The House of Representatives (HoR) on Tuesday rejected the 2021 draft budget submitted by the Government of National Unity (GNU), recommending a review and amendment of the proposed budget.

The MPs have voted by the majority to return the budget bill to the government for amendment in accordance with the recommendations of the HoR, the HoR Spokesman Abdullah Belhaq said.

On Sunday evening, the House of Representatives began discussing the draft of the state’s general budget for 2021. HoR representative of Tarhouna, Abu Bakr Saeed, said that the total budget expenditures proposed by the GNU for the year 2021 amounted to 96 billion dinars, saying that this is "a large sum" given the critical and unstable conditions the country is going through.

The Planning and Finance Committee of the HoR recommended rationalizing public spending in the general budget so that the first chapter does not exceed 33.5 billion dinars, with the necessity to reduce some of the articles of this section as much as possible and to reduce the second chapter to nine billion dinars.

The committee also emphasized the need to restructure chapter three so as not to exceed 15 billion dinars, with a focus on supporting the National Oil Corporation in order to develop production rates and support electricity projects according to a well-thought-out development plan.

It also underscored the need to reduce some provisions of chapter four with no more than 20 billion dinars, besides establishing a budget reserve of one billion dinars.