Azour says summer war caused budget deficit to balloon

16th Nov 2006, 19:42 GMT

Lebanese government revenues shrunk during the eight-week Israeli war and blockade on Lebanon and this caused the budget deficit to jump to 40.54 percent of total spending in 2006, compared to a deficit of 30.83 percent in 2005, Finance Minister Jihad Azour said on Wednesday. Azour, who disclosed the 2006 budget during.