Kanaan Says Finance Committee to Meet Monday on State Budget

Parliament has received the draft 2019 state budget and the head of the finance parliamentary committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan has called for a session at 10:30 am Monday, the National News Agency said on Thursday.

Committee members will discuss the budget's arguments and a law to extend extra-budgetary spending, NNA said.

President Michel Aoun has hoped Parliament will approve the budget “as quickly as possible” whereas Speaker Nabih Berri has said that MPs have the right to take their time in debating and approving the draft.

The Cabinet held 19 sessions to finalize the budget.

Lebanon has vowed to slash public spending to unlock $11 billion worth of aid pledged by international donors during an April 2018 conference in Paris.

Last month, Prime Minister Saad Hariri vowed to introduce "the most austere budget in Lebanon's history" to combat the country's bulging fiscal deficit.

Lebanon is one of the world's most indebted countries, with public debt estimated at 141 percent of GDP in 2018, according to credit ratings agency Moody's.