Cabinet approves expat voting and raises bread price

The cabinet approved on Wednesday reducing the weight of one bag of bread to 900g while keeping the current price at 1,500 LBP.  

It also approved a mechanism drafted by Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour regarding expat voting.

The cabinet also gave the OK to an increase in medical and hospital fees and urged the Ministry of Finance to keep paying the employees’ salaries and wages.

During the session held in Baabda Palace with 62 items on its agenda, President Michel Sleiman stressed the need to carry out the next parliamentary elections according to schedule and rise above personal interests. The president called for consecutive sessions to draft a new electoral law and budget. Sleiman also tackled the 8.9 trillion LBP decree, suggesting the reformulation of the draft before forwarding it to parliament. He added that in case the decree is not passed then he will take the right decision. Sleiman assured that employees will receive their salaries no matter what.  

PM Najib Mikati, for his part, praised Sleiman’s statements and underscored the importance of working on instilling a calm atmosphere and cooperation between employers and employees. Mikati emphasized the need to establish a committee headed by the minister of labor in charge of finding and implementing the right solutions. “I will seek to avoid strikes”, Mikati said.

Prior to the session, President Sleiman and PM Mikati had a closed meeting to engage in general discussions.