Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil on Tuesday handed the 2019 draft state budget to Prime Minister Saad Hariri to be referred now to the government for endorsement.

Following a two-hour meeting during which he and Hariri went over the draft, Khalil said that it is up to the premier to decide when to put it on the government's table for discussion.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted Khalil as describing the draft as "realistic" and "workable".

“As finance minister, I fulfilled my task," he said.

Earlier this week, Khalil told Al-Joumhouria newspaper that the budget includes a plan  to reduce the deficit-to-GDP ratio to less than 9%, adding that it could be reduced by up to 2.5 percent this year.

In its policy statement, the government pledged to undertake a financial consolidation that would start by decreasing the deficit by at least 1% of GDP annually over the next five years, as required by the international community at the CEDRE conference.