VZCZCXRO8782
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHLB #0899 2221431
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101431Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5505
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 3522
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 4053
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS BEIRUT 000899 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA 
ALSO FOR EEB/IFD/OMA BSAUNDERS AND EEB/IFD/ODF RDEMARCELLUS 
F FOR RNAPOLI 
IO FOR A/S BRIMMER 
P FOR DRUSSELL, RRANGASWAMY 
DRL/NESA FOR WHITMAN, BARGHOUT 
STATE PASS TO USAID ESCOTT 
TREASURY FOR SAHERN AND CKNOWLES 
COMMERCE FOR CLOUSTOUNAU/TSAMS/NWIEGLER 
PARIS FOR JMILLER 
USUN FOR WOLFF/GERMAIN/SCHEDLBAUER 
NSC FOR SHAPIRO/MCDERMOTT 
OVP FOR HMUSTAFA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON EFIN PREL LE
SUBJECT: ENCOURAGING CENTRAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET TRANSPARENCY 
 
REF: STATE 81177 
 
¶1. (SBU) The Ambassador delivered reftel demarche to 
caretaker Finance Minister Mohammad Chatah on August 7. 
Chatah responded that budget transparency was one of his 
ministry's top priorities, as evidenced by its commitment to 
a $4 million World Bank assistance program to improve 
Lebanon's budget process.  He said he expected the Bank to 
fund one or two resident advisors at the ministry to focus 
exclusively on the budget and push for reform on the spending 
side. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Nonetheless, Chatah acknowledged that Lebanon's 
budget does not include all government spending.  Of the $4 
billion deficit Lebanon will run in 2009, he said, only $3 
billion would be budgetary spending, while the other $1 
billion would fund off-budget expenditures, as a result of 
legislation passed by parliament authorizing additional 
outlays.  He stressed, however, that the ministry had worked 
hard in recent years to bring more spending into the budget, 
and he looked forward to a new IMF/World Bank assessment of 
the Lebanese budgetary process, which he hoped would show 
improvement from the last report done in 2004. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Chatah offered to have his staff send the Embassy a 
non-paper outlining the state of budget transparency in 
Lebanon and recent steps taken to address it.  Post will 
forward this document to Washington when we receive it. 
SISON