BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s parliament passed the 2020 budget on Monday although its budget and finance committee chief said the forecast revenues might be unrealistic as the country wrestles with a major economic and financial crisis. As lawmakers convened to debate the state budget, protesters hurled rocks at police who were deployed in force around parliament. The budget envisages a deficit of around 7% of GDP, the head of parliament’s budget and finance committee, Ibrahim Kanaan, told Reuters, wider than the originally hoped-for 0.6% with the economy shrinking and choked by a liquidity crunch. The 2020 budget was first drafted by Saad al-Hariri’s government before it resigned in October in the face of protests against the political elite that collectively steered Lebanon into the multi-faceted crisis. Prime Minister Hassan Diab, whose cabinet took office last week with backing from the Shia Hezbollah movement and its allies, told parliament he would not obstruct the budget.

Source: Egypt Independent January 27, 2020 13:41 UTC