Head of the Finance and Budget Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan stressed Monday that the budget of the Defense Ministry has been subject to reductions more than any other budget, praising the defense minister and the army command for their sacrifices.
He explained that reductions have touched the credits of catering, education and fuel in the Defense Ministry’s budget, adding that the article related to the army’s annual weapons funding was deferred until 2020, instead of 2021 as Cabinet had stipulated in the draft sent to Parliament.
Kanaan called on all parliamentary blocs and political parties to follow up on the work of the finance committee, in order to push forward with the budget law when it reaches the parliament, and to avoid any more surprises.
For his part, Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab said that the army command was open to some reductions in the budget, stressing that these reductions approved for this year are only temporary and exceptional and couldn’t be repeated every year.