Lebanon's debts exceed $64bn

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said Tuesday Lebanon's debts in 2013 exceeded USD 64 billion, 59.4 percent of which in local currency. At a news conference in Beirut, Khalil said revenues rose by only one percent because of economic recession in 2012 and 2013 coupled with security unrest in neighboring Syria. The budget deficit widens to nine percent of GDP after the government approved an allowance to address high living costs, he said, which increased the burden of wages by 22 percent. "We are about to determine additional resources to address the deficit," he said