REPORT: Berri says to seek budget’s approval before Easter

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Wednesday on the necessity of approving the state’s Budget before the upcoming conference for Lebanon in Paris.

Berri’s comments were quoted by MPs who visited in Ain el-Tineh whereby he said that he will seek to appoint a parliamentary session to approve the budget before Easter.

The government will pass its 2018 budget to parliament for approval after the cabinet on Monday agreed a draft that projects a fiscal deficit $145
million lower than in 2017.
 
Lebanon is under pressure to show it is willing to institute fiscal reforms before a series of international donor meetings this year.
 
The budgeted deficit for 2018 is 7.3 trillion Lebanese pounds ($4.8 billion), Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Monday. He said this was 220 billion pounds less than in 2017.
 
Last year, the government passed its first state budget since 2005, after years of wrangling between rival parties had all but brought political activity to a halt.
 
The 2018 budget foresees 23.85 trillion pounds of spending and 18.69 trillion of revenues. It includes no new taxes, Khalil said.
 
Lebanon has one of the world's most indebted governments measured against the size of its economy. Growth has been slowed by war in neighboring Syria as well as the years of political inertia.
  
Hoping to stimulate its economy, Lebanon will in April seek up to $16 billion in infrastructure investment at a conference in Paris from international donors who hope to ward off more Middle East instability in a country that hosts more than a million Syrian refugees.