Listen to the article
The parliamentary blocs do not seem enthusiastic about engaging in discussions on the draft budget for fiscal 2023, which was submitted outside the constitutional deadlines.
Will the Parliament skip the discussion and vote on the draft budget for fiscal 2023, as it did in 2021?
Indeed, the Head of the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, assured in an interview with Nidaa al-Watan that he could not discuss the 2023 budget, since it was transmitted to the Parliament outside the constitutional deadlines and had been finalized at the close of the fiscal year, “as a fait accompli.” He added, “What’s been spent has been spent, and what’s been collected has been collected.”
There will therefore be discussions, and the decision will be taken by the deputies after hearing from the caretaker Minister of Finance, Youssef Khalil, in accordance with the rules of procedure.
Kanaan called the Finance Committee for a meeting next Monday (September 18) to discuss the draft 2023 budget, adopted by the Council of Ministers on August 16.
On Tuesday, LF MP Ghada Ayoub announced at a press conference that her bloc was refusing to discuss the 2023 budget bill in the Finance and Budget Committee for practical and legal reasons.
The draft budget for 2024, prepared and submitted by the Ministry of Finance at the end of August, was examined and approved by the Cabinet on September 12 and sent to Parliament for ratification.
