The Minister of Finance Mr. Yassin Jaber recently submitted to the government a balanced draft budget law for the year 2026 targeting revenues and expenditures of LBP 505.72 trillion (around $5.65 billion) each, up by 13.59% from year 2025’s budget law figures of LBP 445.21 trillion (around $4.97 billion). It is worth noting that in accordance with the practice established in recent years, the 2026 budget law does not include an advance to Eléctricité du Liban (EDL) after the latter revised its tariffs to stand above production costs. The draft budget suggests a high contribution from tax revenues of LBP 416.15 trillion, representing 82.29% of total revenues, with non-tax revenues (LBP 89.57 trillion) expected to represent 17.71% of target revenues. Delving into details, levies on goods and services (LBP 266.83 trillion vs LBP 203.55 trillion in the 2025 budget law) are budgeted to be the major contributor (52.76%) to total revenues, with levies on international trade (LBP 61.38 trillion vs LBP 73.39 trillion in the 2025 budget law) and taxes on properties (LBP 36.01 trillion vs LBP 29.50 trillion in the 2025 budget law) accounting for 12.14% and 7.12% of total revenues respectively. It is worth noting, in this perspective, that non-tax revenues mainly represent revenues from state owned enterprises such as Casino du Liban, Lebanese ports, the Rafik Hariri Beirut International Airport and the telecom sector among others. The draft law raises several penalties by a factor of 25 times while also increasing the reporting obligations related to ultimate beneficial ownership (a step that can aid in combatting money laundering and adhering to international best practices) while simultaneously hiking the fees related to non-compliance with said requirements. The draft law also imposes fees on foreign trucks that cross the Lebanese territory for international transport purposes, except for trucks belonging to countries that exempt Lebanon from said fees according to bilateral trade agreements. In addition, the draft law stipulates that the customs administration must levy a 3% charge on every import transaction, with the amount considered as an advance on the importer’s income tax. Finally on the revenues front, the fee associated with the issuance of a new identity card was increased to LBP 1 million from LBP 5,000 previously while also increasing the fees related to residencies for those holding work permits.

On the expenditures front, social benefits are expected to account for over one-quarter (25.80%) of total budgeted expenditures, followed by salaries & remunerations (22.05%) and transfers (12.46%). Other significant expenditure items include capital expenditures (11.10%) mainly in the form of governmental expropriations, and administrative expenses (10.71%). It is worth noting that the draft budget allocates LBP 149 billion (around $1.67 billion) in 2026 for the expansion of the Jounieh port.