Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT— Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram denied in a radio interview Monday any “risk of setback to the cabinet sessions,” stressing that last weeks’ meetings on the draft 2022 budget were “constructive … in light of a unified and complete desire to reach a result that takes into account both living conditions and state finances,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• Commenting on the cabinet’s decision to separate the electricity plan from the budget plan, Bayram told VDL (93.3) that “previous experiences have shown that the payment of advances did not achieve the required goal.” He added that “the energy minister considered it as an assistance to the state, while the prime minister had another opinion that the amount should fall within the budget reserve.”
• An article in the 2022 budget stated that Electricité du Liban would receive an advance payment to buy fuel. Energy Minister Walid Fayad was asked to justify the advance payment worth LL5.25 trillion, before it was decided to separate the electricity and budget plans last week.
• Bayram confirmed that once the budget approval is completed the index committee, which addresses the salaries and wages of workers in the private sector, will convene a meeting to “revisit the issue of the minimum wage,” currently set at LL675,000 a month.