BEIRUT (Xinhua) – The Lebanese government endorsed on Monday the 2019 state budget and referred it to the parliament for discussion and approval, OTV local TV Channel reported.
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said that the government is capable of reducing the budget deficit from 11.4 percent of GDP to 7.59 percent which is a big achievement.
"However, we should be committed to the budgets allocated to each ministry for us to succeed in reaching this figure," he said.
Khalil also denied rumors about the reduction in basic salaries of public sector employees.
"All of these were rumors. We did not cut any salaries. However, we looked into the incentives, allowances and compensations of public sector employees," he said during a press conference.