Minister of Finance in the caretaker government, Youssef Khalil, mentioned after his meeting with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and a delegation from the real estate departments at the Grand Serail that "a statement will be issued by the ministry regarding the meeting."
Mikati also welcomed the President of the General Labor Union, Bashar Asmar, at the head of a delegation from independent agencies. After the meeting, Asmar stated: "Our visit to the Prime Minister today was to inform him of the pressing atmosphere resulting from the anticipated budget for the year 2023 that has been leaked to the media, and which the Cabinet began discussing yesterday. This budget generally includes an increase in fees, which fundamentally harms the working class. We expressed our rejection of the fee increases, which are multiplied up to fifty times; meanwhile, the undefined fees have increased up to thirty times. Furthermore, Articles 80 and 81 eliminate the inclusion of cost-of-living adjustments in the salaries of employees in public institutions and independent agencies. We have expressed all our concerns regarding these issues and have threatened immediate strikes if these articles are approved.”
He added: “Mikati promised to work to suspend and annul the effect of these two articles in the Cabinet, and we thank him for that. We also thanked him regarding the reduction of taxes through family allowances and the expansion of tax brackets. We raised the issue of reducing the budget for the Ministry of Health and Social Security, and we received optimistic responses and continued communications with the Minister of Finance, who also promised positive outcomes regarding Articles 80 and 81.”
