2012 budget to be burdened if wages increase

The State Treasury will have to shoulder additional financial burdens that were gone unnoticed in the 2012 budget draft law in the event of the implementation of the most recent decision regarding wage raise.  

If the recent wage raise decree makes it through the Shura Council; the State must subject the public sector to the decree which will prompt it to increase the figures in the 2012 budget.  In this case, expenditures relevant to wages and salaries will immediately increase, causing a surge in the 2012 budget which has already exceeded billions.

Consequently, the cabinet will stand before two decisions either raise the taxes or lower the expenses.  

Former Finance Minister Jihad Azour urged the cabinet to leave public funds out of political disputes, stressing that the citizen and the Treasury will be the ones who will pay the price. 

It is worth mentioning that if wages will be raised for the employees of the public sector, it is likely that the budget will be stalled and perhaps entirely reconsidered.