Lebanon's parliament passed the 2020 budget on Monday although it's budget and finance committee chief said the forecast revenues might be unrealistic as the country wrestles with a major economic and financial crisis.
As lawmakers convened to debate the state budget, protesters hurled rocks at police who were deployed in force around parliament.
The budget envisages a deficit of around 7% of GDP, the head of parliament's budget and finance committee, Ibrahim Kanaan, told Reuters, wider than the originally hoped-for 0.6% with the economy shrinking and choked by a liquidity crunch.
The 2020 budget was first drafted by Saad al-Hariri's government before it resigned in October in the face of protests against the political elite that collectively steered Lebanon into the multi-faceted crisis.