The new Lebanese government poses for a photo after it earned a vote of confidence by parliament. (AP)

Beirut - Paula Astih

Lebanese deputies and ministers were divided on Thursday over Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil’s proposal to cut their salaries by 50 percent as part of his plan to lower the budget deficit.

Some ministers and lawmakers welcomed the move, while others said the issue needed to be studied further.

On Wednesday, Khalil submitted his budget proposal to Prime Minister Saad Hariri and later revealed tweeted his plan to lower the salaries of the president, prime minister, speaker, ministers, MPs and former lawmakers.

MP Bilal Abdullah, of the Progressive Socialist Party parliamentary bloc, was the first politician to object the minister’s proposal.

“I will not accept a decision to reduce my salary as a deputy. The state must first reduce the wages of some public employees and their compensations that sometimes exceed the salaries of ministers and MPs,” he said.

Abdullah’s position contradicted with that of his party leader, Walid Jumblatt, who said earlier this week that the World Bank is making some demands related to lowering expenditure and that some measures should begin by reducing the salaries of former ministers and MPs.

Jumblatt revealed that as a former MP, he earns a monthly salary of around $6,000, which he said “is not fair.”

Abdullah told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday that objecting to Khalil’s proposal was his own personal opinion and had nothing to do with the PSP’s stance.

Mohammed Shamseddine, a researcher at Information International told Asharq Al-Awsat that the problem does not lie in the salaries of political figures, but the compensations of former lawmakers and presidents.

“A sum of $20 million is allocated every year to pay the compensations of 210 former presidents and former deputies and the families of 104 deceased presidents or lawmakers,” he said.

According to the researcher, there are more than 120 jobs in public institutions where employees are paid more than the salaries of deputies, such as the Central Bank Governor, who is paid a salary of more than $26,600 for 16 months every year, in addition to employees at the Casino du Liban and some ambassadors.

In Lebanon, the president is paid a monthly salary of $8,300, the prime minister and speaker are each paid $7,883 while a deputy earns a maximum of $7,400.

Several deputies have presented draft laws to parliament suggesting lowering the wages of deputies and ministers.