Lebanese Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil stressed on Monday the importance of approving a new budget for 2018.
“Lebanon cannot ask for support at an upcoming donor conference unless it first passes the 2018
budget,” he said after a cabinet meeting chaired by President Michel Aoun.
Political tensions had left Lebanon without a government budget from 2005 until it passed one last year. The government must now agree a budget for 2018.
Hassan Khalil said there was a commitment to finalizing the 2018 budget and referring it to parliament for approval by end of the month.
If this is done within 15 days there is a possibility it will be approved before parliamentary elections scheduled for May 6, he told reporters at the Baabda presidential palace.
“The 2018 budget will not include any new tax measures,” he stated.
Lebanon is expected to ask donors at a variety of international meetings this year for support for its economy and army, and to help it deal with the approximately one million Syrian refugees it is hosting.
Later on Monday, the cabinet formed a ministerial committee, headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, to study the budget before referring its suggestion to the government.
The committee will hold four meetings this week and a number of others next week, explained Hassan Khalil.
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