Lebanon’s budget deficit narrows

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Lebanon’s budget deficit narrowed to 292 billion Lebanese pounds ($194 million) in the first two months of the year as the government spent less on subsidizing the country’s main electricity generating company.

The deficit shrank from 944 billion pounds in the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance said in a e-mailed report today. The government has yet to pass the 2010 budget.

Fiscal spending fell to 2.4 trillion pounds in the first two months of the year from 2.97 trillion pounds in the year- earlier period. The government spent 318 billion pounds less on subsidies for Electricite du Liban, which provides more than 90 percent of the country’s electricity.

Lebanon had a budget deficit of 4.46 trillion pounds last year and 4.4 trillion pounds in 2008, averaging about 9.7 percent of gross domestic product. BW

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