Lebanon's cabinet set to begin drafting 2018 budget

PHOTO

BEIRUT: Bolstered by Parliaments ratification of Lebanons first state budget in over a decade, the Cabinet plans to hold consecutive sessions this week to draft the 2018 budget in a move aimed at restoring order to the financial system jolted by 12 years of extra-budgetary spending in the billions of dollars, officials said Sunday. An official source at Baabda Palace said that agreement had been reached during last weeks Cabinet meeting to hold Cabinet sessions devoted to preparing the draft 2018 state budget.

Agreement was reached to hold three consecutive Cabinet sessions on the 2018 budget this week, the source told The Daily Star. This is in addition to the regular weekly Cabinet session to discuss normal items on the agenda.

Following Parliaments approval of the 2017 budget, the Cabinet is set to meet this week to begin preparing for the 2018 state budget, Sports Minister Mohammad Fneish told The Daily Star.

Fneish, one of two Hezbollah ministers, said that he has not so far been notified of the date of the Cabinet sessions which are expected to be held under President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace.

Speaking to reporters last Thursday shortly after Parliament passed Lebanons first state budget in 12 years, in a landmark move seen as crucial for putting an end to extra-budgetary spending in the billions of dollars since 2005, both Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil said that Cabinet would meet this week to begin drafting the 2018 budget.

We are committed to working to approve next years state budget as soon as possible before the end of the year, Khalil said in a speech in the southern town of Rashaya Sunday. He said that the draft 2018 budget must include a development plan that covers all areas, including Rashaya and the Western Bekaa.

Referring to the passing of the 2017 budget, Khalil said: We have overcome a constitutional and financial problem that is more 13 years old by approving the budget. What we did was a renewal of our confidence that we have no choice but to restore order and strength to the constitutional and official institutions.

Aoun, Hariri and other officials have hailed the endorsement of the 2017 state budget as a big achievement, given the fact that Lebanon has not had a state budget since 2005 due to political bickering, leading to extra-budgetary spending in the billions of dollars.

Despite key differences within the Cabinet over the Syrian refugee crisis, a new electoral law and an electricity reform plan, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk praised Aoun, saying the president has taken an open approach to all parties and shown increased understanding of the countrys constitutional mechanisms since his election Oct. 31 last year. The [political] settlement that brought General Aoun to Baabda was exposed to minor jolts that had been overcome. Every passing day shows more and more that the president recognizes all others and is committed to dealing with them politically and accepting the differences of those who disagree with him, Machnouk said during a Future Movement event in Beirut.

He added that Aoun was keen on political consensus among the rival factions and that his actions thus far have been in compliance with the Constitution and laws.

We elected a president with whom we [sometimes] disagree. This is our constitutional right, and every day I become convinced this settlement has proven successful, Machnouk said, referring to the settlement that led to Aouns election as president and brought Hariri back to the premiership last year.

He added that he had registered his objections to half of the governments recent achievements, including the endorsement of a new electoral law, the ratification of the state budget, a series of long-awaited judicial and diplomatic appointments and the formation of the socio-economic council.

All this has been achieved because Prime Minister Saad Hariri was insistent, persistent and persevered in an unprecedented manner in order to have all these files accomplished, Machnouk said.

He added that the presidential settlement provided for the election of a president, the formation of a coalition government, a dispute management with Hezbollah over its involvement in the 6-year-old war in Syria, and Lebanons disassociation policy toward regional conflicts.

But the last item in the settlement was shaken when ministers from the March 8 parties visited Damascus and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month, Machnouk said.

But Machnouk said this did not affect our insistence on the return of displaced Syrians to safe areas in accordance with international standards.

Economy Minister Raed Khoury said Lebanon was no longer capable of hosting Syrian refugees, and that the government planned to develop a solution. I told [members of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund] that if the U.S. accepted 120 million refugees from Mexico, its economy would collapse after two days, Khoury told a news conference Saturday. We are accepting our Syrian brothers, but we cant do it anymore and as a state we cant handle it anymore.

According to the minister, the Syrian crisis has cost Lebanon around $18 billion. Khoury also said that the number of Syrian workers in Lebanon is around 380,000, raising Lebanons unemployment rate by 30 percent.

There are some 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, according to government estimates, straining the countrys fraying infrastructure and struggling economy.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Melhem Riachi denied reports that he and the other two Lebanese Forces ministers were planning to resign from the Cabinet following differences over the governments electricity reform plan and other issues.

The talk about the Lebanese Forces ministers resignation from the Cabinet is premature, Riachi told LBCI channel Sunday night. We register objections and reservations when the need arises. But there is nothing that requires resignation.

But in another interview with MTV, Riachi did not entirely rule out the possibility of resignation in the future. Its not true that the Lebanese Forces ministers resignation has been written. It is not written yet, but if the need arises, it will be written. There is nothing so far that requires writing it, Riachi said.