The Council of Ministers enacted through a decree the draft budget for 2025, citing the expiration of the constitutional deadline for Parliament to vote on the budget and the time it will take to review it and revise the figures to reflect the new developments in the country since the Cabinet approved the budget in September 2024. The draft budget shows expenditures and revenues at LBP445,214bn each in 2025, leading to a primary surplus of LBP31,485bn and a balanced budget for the year. It also included Treasury receipts of LBP19,585bn, resulting in aggregate public revenues of LBP429,714bn for the year. The ministry based its budget figures on projections of a real GDP growth rate of about 1.2%, an inflation rate of 4.5%, and a nominal GDP of LBP2,487,725bn, or $27.8bn, for 2025. It also expected the exchange rate of the Lebanese pound to the US dollar to remain stable at LBP89,500 per dollar during the year. The date of the projections is October 31, 2024.  On the expenditures side, the draft budget estimates current expenditures at LBP393,858bn and capital spending at LBP51,356bn, or 88.5% and 11.5%, respectively, of aggregate public expenditures. The distribution of current expenditures shows that wages, salaries, social benefits and allocations total LBP214,343bn and account for 54.4% of current spending, followed by spending on goods & services at LBP55,914bn (14.2%), transfers at LBP46,268bn (11.8%), emergency expenditures at LBP19,587bn (5%) and debt servicing atLBP31,535bn (8%), while other spending amounts to LBP26,212bn or 6.7% of current expenditures.  On the revenues side, the draft budget projects tax revenues at LBP361,378bn and non-tax receipts at LBP83,836bn, or 81.2% and 18.2%, respectively, of total public revenues. The ministry estimates that revenues from the excise tax on goods & services would generate LBP203,553bn or 56.3% of total tax receipts; followed by receipts from custom duties with LBP73,387bn (20.3%); the tax on income, profits & capital gains with LBP43,110bn (12%); income from property taxes with LBP29,495bn (8.2%); while other taxes would generate the remaining LBP11,833bn, or 3.3% of aggregate tax receipts. Further, the distribution of projected non-tax revenues shows receipts from government properties and public institutions at LBP54,794bn or 65.4% of the total; followed by administrative fees with LBP25,645bn (30.6%); while penalties, expropriations and other non-tax receipts would generate the balance of LBP3,397bn, or 4.1% of total non-tax revenues.  The distribution of revenues from the excise tax on goods & services indicates that receipts from the value-added tax (VAT) would account for 72% of the total, followed by the excise tax on goods (11.8%), revenues from the Tobacco Régie (7%), departure fees from the Lebanese territory (6.4%), and fees on cars (2.8%). Further, the distribution of revenues from the tax on income, profits & capital gains shows that receipts from the tax on profits would account for 67.4% of the total, followed by the tax on wages & salaries (19.7%), the capital gains tax (9%), and the tax on interest income (3.3%). In addition, the distribution of receipts from the property tax shows that revenues from property registration fees would account for 68.4% of the total, followed by the inheritance tax (22.3%) and the built property tax (9.3%).  In parallel, the Ministry of Finance indicated that public expenditures increased by LBP13,6779bn, or by 44.4%, in the 2025 draft budget from the 2024 draft budget in order to address the rise in the inflation rate, to incorporating the lump sum transportation cost for the members of the military and security agencies, to the increase in public sector wages and salaries, to the surge in allocations to the Ministry of Social Affairs, to the reimbursement of Treasury advances, to the cost of new recruits in the public sector, and to the contributions to the NSSF. Also, the budget modifies taxes and fees, and imposes new fees. (ICE BEIRUT)

Fonte notizia: Byblos Bank, March 3 - 8, 2025