Cabinet Approves Extra-Budgetary Spending Bill, Refers it to Parliament

Cabinet approved on Thursday a draft law allowing the government to obtain treasury loans pending the approval of the 2012 state budget, reported MTV.

Cabinet approved the extra-budgetary spending bill worth $6.8 billion, referring it to parliament in the form of an urgent bill, said LBC television.

The council of ministers had convened at the Baabda Palace on Thursday afternoon to tackle this issue.

It was preceded by a meeting between President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

The government secretariat had informed ministers that the session, which was initially aimed at discussing the draft state budget, will only tackle the draft law on the treasury loans over the failure of Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi to attend the meeting due to his illness.

His hospitalization has already led to the postponement of Wednesday’s session.

Last week, the cabinet decided to allocate $6.8 billion as an extra-budgetary spending to cover the expenses of state institutions and tasked Safadi to prepare the draft-law.

Earlier on Thursday, Miqati presided a meeting at the Grand Serail that was attended by Ministers Jebran Bassil, Ali Hassan Khalil and Mohammed Fneish to coordinate their stances ahead of the session.