National Bloc: Political favoritism in the Lebanese government reflected in the budgets of ministries
The Lebanese National Bloc party warned that the prevailing practice of political favoritism in government is undermining its work, blocking its productivity, and emptying its slogan "to work" out of its content. The Bloc pointed out that the expected deficit rate in the government budget for the year 2019 will be a record 13%, despite the commitments of the “Cèdre” conference.
In its statement, the National Bloc Party pointed out that ministers preparing inflated budgets for their ministries before submitting those budgets to the Ministry of Finance is a clear violation of the “Ministerial Agreement” that was the base of their support to the House of Representatives. This clearly shows that the ministers are reluctant to abandon the political favoritism logic that allows them to spend the public’s money indiscriminately.
The National Bloc noted that the most important element of the government's declaration is "Starting in 2019, the commitment to correct the fiscal deficit by reducing it by at least 1% per annum of GDP over five years through increased revenues and reduce spending." A statement that keeps us wondering whether the government’s sluggish start will lead the country “to work” or to the abyss?