Khalil: State Budget Will Soon be Approved and Published
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said that the country's 2017 draft state budget will soon be ratified and promulgated, as he stressed keenness on maintaining the country's monetary stability, al-Joumhouria daily reported Saturday.
“The State budget will soon be ratified and published. The cabinet has sent a request adding an article that allows us to publish it as soon as it is approved,” said Khalil to the daily.
Khalil's comments came after the cabinet reached an agreement as for the controversial wage hikes crisis on Friday and stressed the need to approve the country's long awaited budget.
Due to political disputes, Lebanon has not ratified a state budget since 2005.
The Cabinet endorsed in March and referred the 2017 draft budget to Parliament for the first time since.
On the agreed wage hikes law Khalil said: “We have been clear since the beginning, the people have a right and the state must secure it through the wage scale. Similarly the state has the right to maintain its monetary stability through tax law provisions.”
According to the daily, the Finance Ministry announced after the cabinet meeting that it has started transferring the public sector salaries noting that it agreed with the Banque to Liban to speed up the payments.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced Friday that the “cabinet has agreed on an expedited draft law that includes tax adjustments,” that will be referred to the parliament in order to secure revenues for the wage scale.
Source: Naharnet
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/236084 |