Lebanon's parliament approved a 2001 budget on Thursday with a deficit equivalent to 51 percent of spending, following government pledges to reduce expenditure and privatize, said Reuters and local reports.
The budget, which was passed on the third day of a special session, forecasts revenue of $3.25 billion compared with $6.57 billion in expenditure including an estimated $2.85 billion in debt service. The 2000 deficit was 56 percent of expenditure, said Reuters.
Eighty MPs supported the draft, with seven opposed and seven others abstaining, mostly from Hizbollah’s parliamentary bloc, said the Daily Star.
The daily reported that the final session also saw the settlement of Wednesday’s dispute between Hizbollah and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri over development projects, in particular those demanded by Hizbollah MPs for the Bekaa region.
The premier and the resistance appeared to have reached a truce, prompting Hizbullah MPs to abstain rather than voting no, said the paper.
According to Reuters, the market has signaled that such high deficits are unsustainable, especially with public debt exceeding 150 percent of gross domestic product.
The government said it would attempt to reduce the public payroll and sell state assets to control the public debt, whose rise triggered downgrades by international rating agencies.
"Every one is demanding to bring down the cost of government, and this is what we are doing," Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri told deputies on Tuesday night.
Belt-tightening measures include sacking redundant staff at Middle East Airlines, which has some 4,500 workers for nine planes.
MEA's board decided last month to lay off 1,200 workers ahead of privatization and give 250 others early retirement. The governor of the central bank has said it will provide $100 million to help cover the costs trimming the workers, added the agency.
MEA workers who said they had been informed of their dismissals tried to storm the airline's offices at Beirut airport on Thursday, daring its chairman to come out and face them as security forces strained to hold them back – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
