With pressing issues coinciding with the transformation of the Parliament into a voting body this September, the 2022 budget project, despite its significance, remains stuck in the drawers of the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee. This is happening even as the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) demands and priorities have advanced in preparation for signing the final agreement with Lebanon. This delay in approving the budget project opens the door wide for speculation regarding its causes, with the most prominent being the "absence of funding sources," especially since the "customs dollar" decree is pending at Baabda Palace where President Michel Aoun has refused to sign it. This decree had been hoped to secure revenues to cover numerous expenses included in the budget bill.
Aoun stated that it is "under study". Interestingly, the 2022 budget project "will not be included on the agenda of the legislative session scheduled for mid-September," according to Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee member, MP Alain Aoun, who revealed that "the budget project will not be discussed or approved during that session, as rumored, until the Finance and Budget Committee completes its review." He pointed out that "the committee is currently focused on that."
Regarding the delay in the committee's review, Alain Aoun mentioned that it is due to the government's postponement of unifying the exchange rate that will be adopted in the budget.
As for whether there is enough time to approve it before the Parliament turns into a voting body at the beginning of next September, he clarified that "the Parliament continues legislating alongside the sessions to elect the President of the Republic."
