Financial Meeting Focuses on Salaries of Public Employees

A meeting was held at the finance ministry to discuss ways to grant public employees their salaries until the month of October, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the daily, the meeting gathered Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, who is Speaker Nabih Berri's adviser, Health Minister Wael Abou Faour, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat's aide, and Nader Hariri, adviser of al-Mustaqbal movement leader Saad Hariri.

The meeting focused on the financial crisis, including the legalizing of extra-budgetary spending in order to pay the public sector employees their salaries at the end of the month.

Berri insists that the parliament must convene to authorize any extra-budgetary spending.

In July, Khalil held onto his decision to block extra-budgetary spending pending an agreement on the 2014 budget.

The March 14 alliance accused then the finance minister of luring it into attending parliamentary sessions and legislating despite the ongoing presidential vacuum.

Successive cabinets have been abiding by the financial ceiling of the last approved budget in 2005.

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