Compromise between Lahoud and Hariri has brought deficit to projected 32 percent ­ up from 30.8 percent

Nafez Kawas
Daily Star correspondent

President Emile Lahoud expressed satisfaction Thursday with the Cabinet’s approval of the 2004 draft budget, saying, he hopes it would be debated and endorsed by Parliament as soon as possible, in a bid to revive the country’s economy and help secure new job opportunities.
A presidential press statement quoted Lahoud as saying that the budget figures “may not be on the level of aspirations desired by everyone, but they have ensured, within the state’s limited resources, allocations for social, health and educational services, and for a number of development projects, such as dams and waste water treatment networks.”
The Cabinet approved the draft budget during its sixth extraordinary session Wednesday night, with a compromise between Lahoud and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri that brought the deficit to a projected 32 percent, up from 30.8 percent as planned earlier.
Information Minister Michel Samaha told reporters later that after making some adjustments, the total expenditures of the draft budget were increased by LL120 billion and the deficit was set at 32 percent.
Samaha also said the draft budget, which includes no new taxes, would be referred to Parliament in the coming few days, denying any Syrian involvement in engineering the plan. “The Syrians only sponsored the issue,” he added.
According to a presidential press statement, Lahoud’s visitors quoted him as saying the budget would enable the state to revive the return of the displaced to their homes and develop their regions. It also attached special interest to the industrial and agricultural sectors and to liberated southern villages, in which it has not been possible so far to carry out any vital projects.
The President stressed that the new budget should be accompanied by reform steps “to restore the people’s confidence in the state’s ability to carry out its plans” and said measures agreed upon by the Cabinet demanded cooperation by all those concerned, both officials and non-officials.
He added that his call for solidarity made during Cabinet sessions, fell within this framework, “especially as the circumstances surrounding Lebanon impose on everybody the need to consolidate the internal situation and face developments with a united stand in order to protect the country’s achievements in the recent past years.”
Lahoud listed among the country’s achievements, the liberation of Lebanese territory from Israeli occupation and the “regaining of Lebanon’s position on the world map.”