Prime Minister Najib Miqati announced at the beginning of the Cabinet session held at the Grand Serail that the "agenda has been postponed to the next session, and the discussion will be limited only to the draft budget law, hoping to finalize it in this session. The budget for the year 2024 is under preparation to begin discussions parallel to the completion of the draft budget for the year 2023, and the decision will be for the Parliament to merge the two budgets or study them separately."
Miqati clarified that he had a long meeting on Saturday with the first deputy governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, stating that "everything reported in today's newspapers is not true, and we were in agreement, and he requested that I inform you of this stance." He added: "We are in agreement, the plan is clear, we have confidence in him, and Finance Minister Youssef Khalil is considering the best and quickest way to approach the issue."
He urged the Minister of Finance to provide figures related to Special Drawing Rights (SDR) as they do not want any issues regarding salaries and medications in August, along with a clear account of all the amounts spent and their allocation.
Regarding the warning data issued by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Miqati pointed out that "security agency data does not indicate any exceptional security situation; there are disturbances in the Ain el-Hilweh camp. Yesterday, I held a long meeting with Palestinian leadership in Lebanon and Lebanese security officials, and we agreed on a specific mechanism that the Palestinians committed to, and a Palestinian statement was issued in this regard."
The Prime Minister informed that "Minister of Education Abbas Halabi requested the issuance of a decree for an exceptional examination session for the intermediate and secondary certificates in its four branches, and it will be issued due to the limited time." He announced that the second round of official exams for the secondary certificate will be held on August 23.
Economy Minister Amine Salam confirmed in a statement from the Grand Serail that "things have calmed down with the State of Kuwait after the press conference I held," noting that "the expression of a Lebanese was exploited," stating: "I am the closest person in Lebanon to the State of Kuwait, and I will soon work on visiting it."
After the session, Information Minister Ziad Makari clarified that the issue of borrowing foreign currencies from the Central Bank of Lebanon was not addressed in today's session. He affirmed that there is no risk regarding salaries, and "the solution will definitely be available; there has never been a glitch in this matter." In response to a question, he said: "One possible exit might be paying public sector salaries in Lebanese pounds, but the matter has not been decided yet."
Regarding the strike at Tele Liban, he indicated that there is no problem at the television station, as funds are available and the strike was announced after securing funds. It was also decided to schedule a session on the 16th to finalize the budget after adjusting the figures.
