US State Department: Lebanon makes progress on fiscal transparency but faces major gaps

The U.S. State Department has published its 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, saying Lebanon made progress in fiscal transparency but continues to face significant shortcomings in budget reporting, auditing and public procurement.

According to the report, Lebanon reviewed its budget during the fiscal year and published its executive budget proposal and enacted budget online within a reasonable period. However, the government did not publicly release an end-of-year report.

The report said Lebanon’s budget included major revenue and expenditure sources, broke down spending by ministry and provided allocations for executive offices, including military and intelligence budgets.

However, it found that information in the previous budget was not considered reliable or reasonably accurate and did not correspond to actual revenues and expenditures. The government also did not issue revised budget estimates.

The report said Lebanon did not prepare its budget documents according to internationally accepted principles.

It also found that the country’s supreme audit institution did not meet international standards for independence, did not audit the entire annual executed budget and did not publish its audit reports within a reasonable period.

On public procurement, the report said the government published only limited information on contracts.

The State Department identified several steps Lebanon could take to improve fiscal transparency, including publishing an end-of-year report within a reasonable period, issuing revised budget estimates or passing a supplementary budget when spending significantly deviates from projections, and detailing allocations to and earnings from major state-owned enterprises.

It also called for stronger oversight of off-budget accounts, budget documents prepared according to international standards, greater independence and broader auditing by the supreme audit institution, and the publication of information on public procurement contracts.