Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, chaired on Thursday a Cabinet meeting on the 2020 draft budget.

When the session ended, Information Minister Jamal Jarrah said: “The Cabinet discussed all the proposals sent by the financial and economic reform committee. There is a positive inclination to approve the elderly pension law, the customs law and the tax law as soon as possible. There is a study about the associations that take contributions from the state, to see which are useful and serve the community, so that they continue to get contributions. For those that do not work, the contribution of the state will be reduced or canceled. The fuel spending for all state institutions and administrations in general was reduced.”

He added: “The Council of Ministers will hold a session at 4 pm next Monday and the reforms committee could hold a session before it. The issue of retirement has also been discussed and studies will be done on retirement and deductions. A decision was taken to place scanners at customs crossings to control the smuggling of goods into Lebanon. There is an almost complete agreement on laws on public procurement, tax liability, customs and elderly pension. Some figures in the budget were completed today.”