Reduced power subsidies lead to lower budget deficit in Lebanon

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Lebanon’s budget deficit narrowed from a year earlier to 1.3 trillion Lebanese pounds ($868 million) in the first five months as the government spent less on subsidizing its main electricity generating company.

The deficit shrank from 2.1 trillion pounds in the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance said in an e-mailed report today.

The government spent 541 billion pounds less on subsidies for Electricite du Liban, which provides more than 90 percent of the country’s electricity, the ministry said.

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.

Note to readers: Ya Libnan is trying to find out the reasons for the reduction in subsidies for EDL and will update this article as soon as any info is received .

Bloomberg

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