Khalil Says No New Taxes in State Budget

There will be “no new taxes” in the 2022 state budget, “contrary to what is being rumored,” Finance Minister Youssef Khalil said after Monday’s Cabinet session.

“A lot of what has been said about the budget is inaccurate and the ‘customs dollar’ will be calculated based on the Sayrafa platform rate,” Khalil added.

“All of the numbers related to aid will be published in the next two days,” he said.

Asked about reports that the budget will adopt a dollar exchange rate ranging between LBP 15,000 and LBP 20,000, Khalil said “no agreement has been reached until the moment regarding the exchange rate."

He, however, noted that "the numbers may not be far from what is being said."

Acting information minister and Education Minister Abbas al-Halabi meanwhile announced that Cabinet would hold successive sesssions as of Tuesday to finalize the state budget, noting that there would be morning and evening sessions.