Despite attempts to unify the criteria for raising fees and taxes according to the rise in exchange and the consumption index (inflation), there are still significant differences.

The committee's report stated that "prices range between 1,500 LBP per dollar and 89 thousand LBP".

Despite efforts to unify the multipliers (to match the rise of the dollar) at 46, there are still differences (from 10 to 60 and more) in the criteria for raising many fees and taxes.

Financial circles noted, "Most of the revenues come from taxes and fees. For example, income tax and profits and capital do not constitute more than 7.2% compared to 67% of internal fees on goods and services and fees on trade and international exchanges, i.e. customs and value-added tax and consumption fees and others, and property tax. This means that most of the revenues come from the public (various categories without distinction) and a small percentage from the capable. The percentage rises a lot to above 67% if dozens of other fees that fall on the shoulders of all Lebanese without distinction between capable, middle-class and poor are added to it, due to the lack of full adoption of progressivity".

On the exchange rate level, the acting governor of the Bank of Lebanon, Wassim Mansouri, indicated that this is expected in the 2024 budget project to be built on its requirement, so the Finance and Budget Committee responded to him, disclaiming that, returning the ball to the Central Bank, which is concerned and has the authority to determine the exchange rate and not the Parliament. It was notable in the report of the Finance and Budget Committee to accuse the former governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salameh, of practicing clientelism in granting developmental (subsidized) loans and decisions that he alone took without others, in addition to accusing the Cental Bank of being a full partner to the government in violating the provisions of the law regarding opening government bank accounts.

On another level, investment expenditures are hardly mentioned, especially those related to maintenance and infrastructure, which makes the budget operational only for current and consumer spending and salaries. Under the items of program projects, many investment appropriations have been postponed to between 2025 and 2028. For example, the Ministry of Public Works only got 17% of its needs, and it is very lucky, because other ministries got much less than this percentage.

Therefore, the budget is actually deficient, as it lacks many other expenses such as 1.7 billion dollars for oil from Iraq, which Lebanon does not yet know how it will pay.

This article was initially published in Nidaa Al-Watan newspaper, translated by Christina Rai.