The great mistake

Could you imagine the deficit drops over 20% by the end of the year? Debt servicing, now exceeding revenues, becomes less of a burden? A healthier climate renews investor confidence? Believe it or not, this is not so far-fetched. All that would be needed is a more rational government. One that would have resolved t~e ongoing dispute with LibanCell and Cellis and accepted the two companies’ offers for licenses with an upfront payment of $1.8 billion. “If the government allocated $1.5 billion of that to the budget, we would have seen a deficit of around 32% at the end of2000,” says Marwan Iskandar, economist. But this wouldn’t have been restricted to a quick fix of this year’s fiscal shortcomings. More could have followed. A third license would have been sold, possibly with a similar price tag. Then comes privatization, the initial 25% stake in the telecom. And don’t forget the