The cabinet will approve a draft-law to legalize the controversial extra-budgetary spending during its session on Thursday, President Michel Suleiman announced.

In remarks to As Safir daily on Wednesday, Suleiman said the government will resolve the dispute on the spending through legal ways and will not resort to a political settlement.

“Everyone knows that the general spending needs a state budget,” Suleiman said, adding “until the adoption of the 2012 budget, we will approve treasury loans for the urgent needs of the ministries and refer them to the parliament.”

“I don’t think any MP would obstruct the work of the government or the spending,” he told the newspaper, stressing that he would resort to signing decrees under his constitutional powers if the lawmakers put obstacles to the adoption of the spending laws.

Reacting to the positive development, Speaker Nabih Berri told As Safir that he had been calling for resolving the spending problem since the dispute emerged between cabinet members several months ago... continue reading