Aridi Calls for Law that Sets Limit of Govt. Spending

Minister of Transportation and Public Works Ghazi al-Aridi stated that a law on government spending should not speak of the mechanism and auditing of spending, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

He explained: “A draft law on the matter should set the limit of government spending.”

“Once a limit has been set, the government would be able to go about its spending in a legal manner,” he added.

Furthermore, he noted: “Should the bill on the spending of $5.9 billion fail to be approved, then the current government’s spending would be considered illegal.”

The controversial spending has stirred a dispute between the March 8 and 14 forces after Miqati’s cabinet referred its 2011 $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending bill to parliament for approval.

The opposition March 14 lawmakers have boycotted parliament twice and conditioned the approval of the bill to the settlement of the spending made by the previous governments.

Aridi stressed: “We will not be part of any settlement.”

“Auditing must be consistent and practiced on a daily basis in all state institutions,” said the minister.