Priority to Budget Crisis, then Power Problem
Caretaker Finance Minister Mohammed Shatah said that the budgut crisis should be the new government”s top priority and then comes the electricity problem.
Shatah, in an interview published Monday by pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper, said that the "battle currently being fought for the formation of the government is an important sign of the extent to which a government”s ability to meet whatever challenges we may face."
"The inability to achieve what is normal after the parliamentary election is in itself a problem," he believed. "It indicates a structural weakness in how to implement the system and possibly also the presence of a gap in the system itself."
Shatah said once Cabinet has been formed, priority should go to preparation of a draft budget for 2010, following three years without the approval of a budget while this year”s budge draft is still waiting approval in Parliament.
Turning to the power crisis, Shatah admitted that the electricity sector "has become a huge burden on the Lebanese economy and on the pockets of the Lebanese."
He said the deficit at Electricite Du Liban will reach LL 2,200 billion by the end of this year, "meaning that each Lebanese family would bear a burden of up to $1,500 a year of debt to be added to their power bills."