Safadi determined to settle accounts since 1993

MENA’s Senior Budget Officials Network convenes 4th annual meeting in Beirut

The Minister of Finance, Mohamad Safadi, announced that the ministry would accomplish the state’s balance sheets since year 1993. In a statement at the fourth Annual Meeting for Senior Budget Officials Network in the MENA region, Safadi said that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is working to pursue tax reforms, in parallel with providing the essential infrastructure and social services.

Safadi said that the ministry will also work to reduce public debt, and limit the ratio of debt servicing cost to the total expenditure.

The minister said that the MoF “worked to improve liquidity management through establishing a specialized unit for this purpose.” He said the World Bank’s Emergency Fiscal Management Implementation Support (EFMIS) program has contributed to improving the ministry’s conduct in achieving and implementing the public budget.

Safadi said that the MoF is working on a new law for an enhanced budget management, to replace the part concerning the budget in the Public Accounting Law. He said that the cabinet is looking into a draft law for public tenders, prior to submitting it to the parliament for approval. He said that a national directory for the management of public tenders as well as new books of conditions, have been prepared through a support from the World Bank and the World Labor Organization.