Balancing act

At the press conference in which he outlined the 2004 budget, minister of finance, Fouad Siniora, began by justifying why the 2003 budget was missed by such a sizeable margin. According to figures for the first nine months of 2003, the deficit stood at around 38%, compared to almost 40% for the same period last year, thus registering a modest improvement. While revenues seem to be on target for the year, and may reach the budgeted LL6.475 billion by year-end, expenditures remain high. Current expenditures (excluding debt servicing) grew almost 8% between January and September 2003, compared to the same period last year, reaching LL3.4 billion against a full year budget of LL4.2 billion. On the other hand, debt servicing, which was expected to be capped at LL4 billion for the year, has already exceeded LL3.4 billion by September, and remains the main factor behind the government’s failure to trim