“The PPP is not an option to help banks channel their surplus but rather to eliminate all obstacles that would affect the participation of the private sector in financing projects,” she said.

The Minister met on Wednesday representatives of economic chambers and private sector groups to discuss the partnership between the public and the private sectors, a main element of the 2010 draft budget.

She said that the private sector is the catalyst of the country’s economy. “We will base out partnership with private parties on suitable legislations, and work to legislate those laws has already started,” she said.

The Minister said that the participation of the private sector in financing projects will spur competition and help reduce prices of services.

She said that this year’s draft budget that she presented to the council of the ministers after long discussions was “the art of the possible” knowing the country’s conditions.

The 2010 draft proposal, according to El Hassan, has a main purpose to increase the level of investment spending, especially on power projects. “We have pledged to finance plans to secure projects to secure a minimum of 600 megawatts, which is equal to the country’s power shortage,” she said.

Mohamad Choucair, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture in Beirut and Mount Lebanon (CCIAB) said that the government has to include the private sector in legislating laws or introducing new taxes which “always affect the country’s productive segment.”

He called for a quick ratification for the draft budget after five years of spending without one.