The budget law and its figures, along with their potential implications for the economy, have resurfaced as a topic of discussion following an appeal submitted by ten deputies to the Constitutional Council. This comes at a time when the implementation of the customs dollar is supposed to begin based on a rate of 15,000 LBP, after the Minister of Finance in the caretaker government, Youssef Khalil, announced last week that the Ministry of Finance had sent a letter to the Central Bank concerning the start of calculating foreign currency prices for the taxes and fees collected by the customs department on imported goods, starting from December 1, 2022, at a rate of 15,000 LBP per US dollar.
For her part, Deputy Paula Yacoubian confirmed that what is published is different from what is approved in the Parliament, which is what happened in the budget, and there must be a correction of the course. So, what is the fate of the budget?
Constitutional expert lawyer Antonio Farhat indicated to "Akhbar Al-Yawm" agency that in any appeal, one must distinguish between form and substance. Form-wise, if the appeal is submitted within 15 days from the publication of the law in the official gazette, it is considered acceptable; if submitted outside this period, it is rejected regardless of the reasons for it. In our case, the appeal is acceptable as the budget was published in the official gazette on the 15th of this month.
Regarding the substance, the Constitutional Council can decide to temporarily or precautionarily halt the budget until the appeal is resolved, within a period not exceeding one month.
What are the implications? Farhat stated: If the Constitutional Council decides positively on the appeal, the budget figures based on a rate of 15,000 LBP per dollar cannot come into effect, including the customs dollar, which, although issued by a decision from the Ministry of Finance, is fundamentally based on the budget figures.
Farhat pointed out that it is not correct for taxes to be imposed by a decision from the Minister of Finance; rather, any tax must be issued by a law from the Parliament, warning that what is happening in the Parliament is an evasion of responsibility. The Minister of Finance cannot manipulate the exchange rate at will.
