Most of today’s newspapers in Lebanon carried the tritest statement to have ever hit the headlines: The state budget needs to be balanced either by increasing taxes or by reducing public spending.
No kidding. I read the story and can vouch the statement has no facetious undertones or overtones. So no matter how you take it, it’s a feat. Someone should call the Nobel Foundation and report this; they have a candidate for their 2006 Prize in here, a sure winner.
Fully aware of the constraints that the statement refers to, the majority of Lebanese have been clamoring for a reduction in government spending and misspending for nearly a decade. In response to their demands, successive governments have continued to bludgeon the economy with taxes. When will this end? Next February when ‘donor’ countries meet in Beirut?
The government may have a credible plan for reforms leading to the downsizing of the public administration. But will the ‘donors’ be convinced that the plan can be implemented in a context of serious political discord? The World Bank doesn’t seem to be betting on the possibility of the reforms plan unfolding anytime soon.
