Bassil: Newly Approved Budget Sets Course for Reform, Financial Regulation

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Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said on Tuesday that the cabinet has approved the 2017 draft budget plan during Monday's meeting where “new elements to promote tax justice and abolish protected monopolies were introduced.”

Speaking after an extraordinary meeting of the Change and Reform bloc, the Minister pointed out: “We underlined three old demands of the bloc namely the tax on real estate profits, raising taxes on bank profits and bank interests.”

He asserted the government did not suggest the imposition of taxes that affect the public mainly the poor.

The cabinet “has placed the first foundation for reform and financial regulation in the country. This is the first budget approved since 12 years,” he said.

On Monday, the cabinet approved the state's annual budget, the country's first in 12 years, referring it to parliament for final ratification.

“The cabinet approved the draft state budget and the deficit was greatly decreased through the debate that took place today,” Information Minister Melhem Riachi told reporters after the session.

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil will hold a press conference on Thursday, after the return of President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri from the Arab Summit in Jordan, to announce all the details, numbers, the budget deficit, the decrease in the deficit, the numbers of the budget, the revenues and the expenditure.

Lebanon has not approved a state budget since 2005 due to political differences between the rival parties.

SourceNaharnet
Comments 2
Thumb i.report 28 March 2017, 21:27

What's your commission Mr Basil?

Default-user-icon zgartawi (Guest) 29 March 2017, 00:45

Whatever he can abscond !Bassil is a kleptocrat par excellence ... soon he will be richer than the state .