In a report issued by its State Department, the United States noted that the Lebanese government made significant progress by enacting a budget for the first time since 2020 and publishing it online during the review period, although final enactment was still delayed.
It also made significant progress by ensuring the budget broke down expenditures by ministry, noting that the government did not publish an executive budget proposal or end-of-year report online within a reasonable period.
Information in the previous budget was neither considered reliable nor reasonably accurate and did not correspond to actual revenues and expenditures, and the government did not issue revised estimates.
The budget did not provide a substantially full picture of expenditures and revenues. Information on debt obligations, including major state-owned enterprise debt, was not available, and details regarding allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises were limited.
Budgets to support executive offices, the military, and intelligence services were limited in detail and subject to limited civilian public oversight. On another note, the supreme audit institution did not meet international standards of independence, did not audit the entire annual executed budget, and did not publish its audit reports within a reasonable period.
The report suggested several initiatives that would improve Lebanon’s fiscal transparency:
– Enacting and publishing the enacted budget within a reasonable period
– Publishing an executive budget proposal and end-of-year report within a reasonable period
– Ensuring the budget provides a substantially full picture by including major sources of revenue, expenditure, and debt obligations, including major state-owned enterprise debt
– Producing and publicly issuing revised budget estimates or passing a supplementary budget when budget executions deviate significantly from projections
– Detailing allocations to and earnings from state-owned enterprises
– Breaking down expenditures to support executive offices in the budget
– Subjecting military and intelligence budgets to parliamentary or civilian public oversight
– Ensuring the supreme audit institution meets international standards of independence, audits the entire annual executed budget, and publishes its reports within a reasonable period
