Exclusive - Akhbar Al Yawm

The Parliament will hold an important session on Wednesday and Thursday and before Friday afternoon to study and approve the draft general budget law for the year 2022 after it was called by President Nabih Berri, two days after meeting with caretaker PM Najib Mikati. But, remarkably, the invitation to this session was not preceded by a meeting of the Bureau of the Representative Council, as is customary to prepare the agenda.

In this context, the Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee, MP Ibrahim, signed the budget report for 2022 and referred it to the General Secretariat of the Representative Council.

It can be said that this budget, if approved, does not exceed four months, especially as the beginning of the new fiscal year approaches, and therefore the government should start setting the budget for 2023.

At a time when the internal atmosphere indicated the delay in approving this year's budget with the weight of not approving it, parliamentary sources reported, through Akhbar Al Yawm, that the international community is pushing for the approval of this budget, stressing that the budget of 2023 should include an integrated reform plan, and therefore came the call to approve the 2022 budget.

In addition, the sources suggest two major objections that will accompany their discussion, especially by the bloc of the strong republic and some agents of change.

As for the price of the customs dollar, the sources negotiated that the Finance Committee referred the matter to the General Authority with my proposal to be between 12 and 14,000 Lebanese Lira.

On the other hand, the sources revealed that the budget report included sources of financing and revenues for the treasury.

While there is a lot of talk about a budget for the organization of state administration, the session will witness many sharp objections... The question remains: Will the budget be approved or will the Lebanese President, General Michel Aoun, return it to the Council, similar to the Banking Secrecy Law?