VOL. XLIV

No. 27

2-July-2001

LEBANON

Lebanon Passes 2001 Budget With Deficit At 51% Of Spending

After a protracted parliamentary debate, Lebanons MPs on 21 June ratified the 2001 state budget, which forecast revenues of LL4,900bn ($3.25bn), expenditures of LL9,900bn ($6.57bn) and a resultant deficit of LL5,000bn ($3.32bn see Table below). The deficit is widely viewed as more realistic at 51% of expenditures than that forecast for 2000, which totaled 37.4% of expenditures. Debt servicing alone...