Lebanon parliament committee to approve 2020 budget by year-end: Head

Ibrahim Kanaan, the head of Lebanese parliament's budget committee, said on Thursday that the committee aims to approve the 2020 budget by the end of the year.

Lebanese treasury revenues are almost non-existent for the last 45 days, Kanaan said citing the country’s finance minister, and added that public sector salaries will be paid.

“Before the end of next month, the holiday season, ... we will have finished the debate and approval of the 2020 budget,” Kanaan said in a televised news conference.

“It is not possible for the new government not to adopt this budget because when this budget is approved it will become a law,” he added.

Last month, Lebanon’s government agreed to a 2020 state budget that does not impose new taxes on individuals and aims for a deficit of 0.6 percent of GDP, down from a previous target of about 7 percent. The reforms were introduced to ease an economic crisis and defuse the biggest protests the country has witnessed in decades.