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2022 BUDGET

Aoun signs draft budget, sending it to Parliament for consideration

Aoun signs draft budget, sending it to Parliament for consideration

Lebanese President Michel Aoun. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)

BEIRUT – Lebanese President Michel Aoun signed the 2022 draft budget on Monday and sent it to Parliament for consideration and adoption, the presidency announced on its Twitter account.

Here’s what we know:

The signing of the draft budget by Finance Minister Youssef Khalil and Prime Minister Najib Mikati did not occur until two weeks after its approval by cabinet.

Economy Minister Amin Salam, a member of the delegation representing Lebanon in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, told reporters last Friday that the “Fund is not happy with the budget, but accepted it because of the current circumstances despite the LL7 trillion deficit.”

The IMF is not the only one to have issues with the draft budget. This week, Member of Parliament Ibrahim Kanaan, chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee, and the majority of private sector stakeholders who met at the Economic and Social Council said they were against this draft budget because it lacked a vision and its desire to increase taxes and duties on an economy that has been in contraction for three years.

Correction: A previous version of this post cited a £7 trillion deficit. It is LL7 trillion.

BEIRUT – Lebanese President Michel Aoun signed the 2022 draft budget on Monday and sent it to Parliament for consideration and adoption, the presidency announced on its Twitter account. Here’s what we know:The signing of the draft budget by Finance Minister Youssef Khalil and Prime Minister Najib Mikati did not occur until two weeks after its approval by cabinet. Economy Minister Amin Salam,...