On Tuesday, the Council of Ministers continued the examination of the 2023 budget. At the start of the meeting, the Caretaker Prime Minister referred to the draft law distributed to the ministers the day before, which allows the government to borrow foreign currencies from the Central Bank to finance the salaries of civil servants.
Mikati explained that, according to the law, “draft laws must be submitted to the ministers at least one week before being discussed in the Council of Ministers.” He further stated, “This means that the discussion of this draft law will take time. Therefore, I propose that a group of MPs present a draft law on this matter, especially since some parties will oppose such a move by the caretaker government. The Parliament can then make the appropriate decision.”
According to the constitution, a caretaker government cannot present a draft law, as an MP explained to Ici Beyrouth. “Such texts will be tainted with procedural defects and cannot be admissible,” he added. “It is the procedure that is being questioned, not the content.”
As a reminder, this draft law was requested by the first vice-governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Wassim Mansouri. The text establishes the amount of the loans and the conditions under which the Lebanese State can borrow in dollars from the BDL and repay the sum in dollars over a period of 18 months. The State will repay the loan from its revenues. This mechanism may be renewed only once. The bill will allow the Central Bank to legally draw on its mandatory reserves.
Moreover, according to information obtained by Ici Beyrouth, “the imposition of new taxes is not anticipated” in the draft budget. “An adjustment of existing fees based on the exchange rate of the dollar against the Lebanese pound is rather planned.”
The Council of Ministers will meet again on Thursday to continue the examination of the 2023 budget. On the agenda, there is notably a request from the Ministry of Telecommunications to grant Caretaker Minister of Telecommunications Johnny Corm the prerogative to sign the contract with Colis Privé France, which won the tender for managing the postal sector. The Council of Ministers will also consider a draft decree aiming to promote certain teachers at the Lebanese University. Corm is also expected to submit to the ministers the project related to the increase in the pricing of Internet and fixed-line telephone services provided by Ogero.
