📰 5 sources 13 articles · 29 Sep 2026, 20:40 → 16 days ago

Lebanese Cabinet approves 2027 budget and amends the transport allowance

The Lebanese Cabinet held a session at the Grand Serail chaired by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in which it approved the 2027 draft general budget law and amended the daily transport allowance to equal five liters of gasoline per day, with a minimum of 500,000 pounds and a maximum of 800,000 pounds, while opening an additional credit to support public drivers and amending family allowances. The Cabinet also postponed a decision on cancelling a tax on the gasoline can and requested the necessary legal text, after which President Joseph Aoun signed decrees referring the budget to the Chamber of Deputies.

📍 Where things stand: President Joseph Aoun signed three decrees referring the 2027 budget to the Chamber of Deputies, opening a credit of 1,450 billion and 800 million pounds to support public drivers for three months, and amending family allowances, while the decision on cancelling the gasoline-can tax remains postponed pending preparation of the legal text.

⏱️ Timeline

29 Sep 2026, 20:40 Reports said the Lebanese Cabinet would hold a session at the Grand Serail on Thursday, October 1, 2026, to continue discussing the 2027 draft general budget law. The agenda is headed by the Labor Ministry's request to amend the daily transport allowance set by Decree No. 12966, without the agenda specifying the proposed increase, along with a project to establish a floating unit to receive and convert liquefied natural gas in Deir Ammar, and items on customs, appointments, grants and international agreements.
1 Oct 2026, 15:52 Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar said upon entering the Cabinet session that the file of raising the transport allowance for workers was settled after the relevant decree was discussed in the Index Committee meeting. He explained that the proposed increase is calculated on the basis of five liters of gasoline for each working day, meaning the allowance value would range between about 500,000 pounds as a minimum and 800,000 pounds as a maximum depending on the number of working days, expecting the decree to be approved at today's Cabinet session.
1 Oct 2026, 15:55 Prime Minister Nawaf Salam chaired a Cabinet session at the Grand Serail in which it continued discussion of the 2027 draft general budget law with a focus on revenues, taxes and expenditures, and examined the Labor Ministry's request to amend the daily transport allowance without specifying the new value. Salam also proposed the project to convert liquefied natural gas into natural gas through a floating storage and regasification unit in the Deir Ammar area under a public-private partnership.
1 Oct 2026, 17:19 The Lebanese Cabinet approved the item related to the transport allowance amendment decree and asked Energy Minister Joe Sadi to propose the legal text to cancel the tax imposed on the gasoline can, after ministers of the "Lebanese Forces" demanded the cancellation of this tax.
1 Oct 2026, 17:56 MTV information reported that the Lebanese Cabinet was continuing its discussion of the budget, with no further details on its items or the outcomes of the discussions.
1 Oct 2026, 18:52 The Cabinet session at the Grand Serail ended with the approval of the 2027 draft budget and its referral, in accordance with proper procedure, to the Chamber of Deputies within the constitutional deadlines. The Cabinet approved amending the transport allowance to equal five liters of gasoline per day, with a minimum of 500,000 pounds and a maximum of 800,000 pounds; opened an additional credit of 1,450 billion and 800 million pounds to support public drivers for three months; and set the ceiling for total family allowances for children at five million and 800,000 pounds, with due differences to be paid as of March 1.
1 Oct 2026, 19:10 The Lebanese Cabinet postponed deciding on the cancellation of the 300,000-pound tax imposed on the gasoline can and asked Energy and Water Minister Joseph Sadi to prepare the necessary legal text, after ministers of the "Lebanese Forces" demanded the tax's cancellation. Finance Minister Yassin Jaber, answering a question about imposing new taxes, said "there are no taxes". The Cabinet also approved the item related to the transport allowance amendment decree and the 2027 draft budget.
2 Oct 2026, 15:13 Lebanese President General Joseph Aoun signed three decrees related to financial and social files, most notably referring the 2027 draft general budget law to the Chamber of Deputies and opening an additional credit of 1,450 billion and 800 million Lebanese pounds to support public passenger transport drivers for three months, in addition to amending family allowances.

Timeline written by AI from the sources below; updated as new reports arrive.

⚠️ Sources disagree

Year of the general budget approved by the Cabinet

the draft general budget law for 2026 according to Lebanon Debate
the draft general budget law for 2027 according to annahar.com
the 2027 budget according to جنوبية

Figures as each outlet reported them at the time. We do not judge which is correct; numbers often change as events develop.

How the sources covered it

Coverage varied between a detailed step-by-step follow-up of the session that carried ministers' statements and developments as they happened, official-style coverage focused on the session's decisions and figures, and brief coverage limited to the headline outcome. A difference also appeared in emphasis between those that dwelt on the transport allowance and its value and those that added the gasoline-can tax file and the Finance Minister's position on it.

annahar.com It focused on how the session was run, leading with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam chairing it and the revenues, taxes and expenditures items, and highlighting the final figures: a transport allowance equal to five liters of gasoline with a minimum of 500,000 pounds and a maximum of 800,000, a family allowance ceiling of 5 million and 800,000 pounds, and the Deir Ammar gas project, without addressing the dispute over the gasoline-can tax.
Lebanon Debate It covered the session through successive updates, being first to carry Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar's statement on the transport allowance value and figures and the approval of the transport allowance decree item, and it highlighted the postponement of a decision on cancelling the 300,000-pound gasoline-can tax, the Lebanese Forces ministers' demand to cancel it, Finance Minister Yassin Jaber's remark "there are no taxes", and details of the additional credit to support drivers.
MTV Lebanon It only reported that the Cabinet was continuing its discussion of the budget, with no details on its items or the decisions taken.
جنوبية It focused on two outcomes: the approval of the 2027 budget and the approval of a transport allowance equal to 5 liters of gasoline per day.
LBCI It reported from Marqus the approval of the 2027 budget and the amendment of the transport allowance for the public sector, in brief coverage.