The caretaker government continued to work on the draft 2024 Budget during its afternoon session on Monday, chaired by the caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati. The meeting also focused on the continuous flow of Syrian migrants to Lebanon. It was decided to send a delegation to Damascus to examine, with the Syrian authorities, possible solutions to this problem.
In regards to the draft Budget for 2024 prepared by the Ministry of Finance, sources told This is Beirut that discussions are going well and that all the ministers present (government meetings are boycotted by FPM ministers) unanimously agreed on the points already studied.
Value-added tax (VAT) remains at 11%, contrary to rumors that had been circulating about differences of opinion on this subject.
Electricity bills and taxes will be collected in Lebanese pounds, not in dollars (as indicated in the draft). This was requested by Mikati and all the ministers.
In addition, the caretaker Prime Minister asked for a commission to be set up within a month to tackle the huge issue of tax evasion.
The ministers will resume their work on the draft Budget on Tuesday, during a Cabinet meeting devoted to this purpose.
Expenditure to match revenue
According to Al Dawliya lil-Maaloumat website, State expenditure for the 2024 financial year will be LBP 300 thousand billion, or $3.5 billion (at the Sayrafa platform rate), with an increase of 7.3% compared to the 2022 budget. This expenditure includes interest on Treasury bills, civil servants’ salaries and pensions, hospital costs, etc.
State revenues are also expected to amount to LBP 300 thousand billion, including taxes (258 thousand billion) and exceptional revenues (41 thousand billion). The budget reserve is estimated at 33%.
The displaced Syrians and migrants issue
Various decisions were taken in regards to displaced Syrians and the continuous flow of Syrian migrants to Lebanon. The government decided to send a delegation to Damascus, headed by the caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdallah Bou Habib, to discuss this problem with the Syrian authorities.
Bou Habib will be accompanied by the Secretary General of the Supreme Defense Council, General Mahmoud Asmar, and the Director of General Security, General Elias Baissari. The results of the commission’s work are due to be presented to the Council of Ministers at the end of September.
Simultaneously, the security and military services were asked to cooperate and coordinate in order to strengthen controls at border crossings, implement comprehensive and coordinated joint operations targeting smuggling networks, close illegal crossing points, confiscate the means and funds used by smugglers, step up intelligence and security efforts to control land and sea borders, prevent the illegal entry of Syrians and take immediate measures against them in terms of their return to their country.
The Prime Minister’s decision of 28/02/2023 related to the withdrawal of personnel assigned to accompany and protect officials, in violation of the law, must be applied in order to reinforce the personnel carrying out border missions.
In addition, a circular will be sent to municipalities requiring them to immediately report any suspicious movements or gatherings linked to displaced Syrians. This is particularly related to smuggling, in order to carry out an immediate census of displaced Syrians and to create databases on them. Municipalities were also asked to eliminate all illegal work on infrastructure (electricity, water, sewers, etc.) located in places where displaced people live. Violations relating to businesses set up by Syrians without the necessary licenses should also be punished.
The Ministry of Labor has been asked to take dissuasive legal measures against institutions and companies operating on Lebanese territory in violation of labor law, particularly in regards to foreign workers. It was also asked to halt all attempts to circumvent legal texts aimed at legalizing operations carried out by foreign workers, notably through the creation of fictitious commercial companies. It will also have to prepare the necessary legal amendments, in coordination with the Security General, to increase the work permit fees for foreigners. These will be included in the draft 2024 Budget.
Prosecutors General have been asked to step up legal proceedings against people involved in human trafficking and those who enter Lebanon illegally. The judicial authorities have also been asked to speed up trials, which will alleviate the problem of prison overcrowding, and to take appropriate measures to deport Syrian convicts, taking into account international agreements.
The Ministry of Information will be launching awareness campaigns on the dangers of the displacement of Syrian and Lebanese communities. It will be urging citizens to cooperate with security and military services to stop the gangs of smugglers at the border.
The Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Social Affairs will have to ask the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to step up its cooperation with the ministries and security and military agencies in order to ensure the immediate and appropriate conditions for the safe return of displaced Syrians.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in particular, must intensify its diplomatic efforts to explain to the concerned capitals the serious consequences of the presence and massive influx of Syrians into Lebanon, a country suffering from an unprecedented crisis.
