--- title: "The Military Grant: An Approach Lacking Fairness and a Vision for Reform | Ghazi Mahmoud" url: https://ghazimahmoud.com/en/articles/2025-06-11-d66175/ lang: en description: "In a move that sparked considerable controversy and questioning, the government resorted at its meeting late last May to linking the financing of the financial grant for military personnel, both in active service and in retirement, to an increase in levies on fuel." --- [All articles](https://ghazimahmoud.com/en/articles/) # The Military Grant: An Approach Lacking Fairness and a Vision for Reform [Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Dr. Ghazi Mahmoud](https://ghazimahmoud.com/en/about/) 11 Jun 2025 · 5 min read [The Lebanese economy](https://ghazimahmoud.com/en/articles/leb/)[Politics and security](https://ghazimahmoud.com/en/articles/geo/) In a move that sparked considerable controversy and questioning, the government resorted at its meeting late last May to linking the financing of the financial grant for military personnel, both in active service and in retirement, to an increase in levies on fuel. This linkage, which came as a surprise and ran counter to previous official statements and promises, whether regarding its value or the timing of its payment, reflects once again a nearsighted fiscal approach that ignores social justice and lacks any genuine vision for reform. Instead of approving a grant for active military personnel worth 20 million lira as previously circulated in the media, the amount was limited to just 14 million, with payment postponed from early June to this coming July. Moreover, the grant in itself does not compare to the benefits previously obtained by public sector employees, reducing it to a mere limited settlement that falls short of rightful compensation, keeps military salaries at the lowest level, and even widens the existing gap in salaries and pensions. What retirees receive, after factoring in the benefits mentioned above, is limited to roughly 40% of what active public sector employees receive. This constitutes an injustice to the self-evident rights of retirees, and a clear and explicit violation of the National Defense Law and the Retirement and End-of-Service Regulations, both of which set retirees' entitlement at 85% of the final basic salary they received while in service. While the approval of the social grant was meant to place active and retired military personnel on an equal footing with the rest of public sector employees who had previously received productivity and perseverance allowances, the grant instead demonstrated the government's insistence on denying fair treatment to active and retired military personnel and ignoring their rights. This weakens confidence in government performance and entrenches a sense of frustration among those who gave the prime of their youth in the service of military and security institutions. The manner in which the grant was approved also raises questions about its negative social and economic repercussions and the absence of an integrated vision for reform. In addition to the unfairness in the value of the grant, the method of financing it poses deeper problems. Fuel levies are an indirect tax that affects all segments of society indiscriminately, yet their burden falls heaviest on low-income groups, and by approving an increase in these levies, the government has given with one hand only to take away with the other. Every rise in the price of a canister of gasoline or diesel translates automatically into inflation in the prices of goods and services, starting with public transport, extending to heating and energy, and reaching consumer goods and foodstuffs. The result is a further erosion of citizens' purchasing power, especially among those who are not covered by the grant in the first place. Financing current expenditures by imposing levies on consumer goods, such as fuel levies, also leads to contractionary effects, particularly in an economy already suffering from chronic stagnation. Every increase in the operating costs of enterprises and companies will affect those companies' ability to expand production, employment, and investment, as well as their competitiveness in foreign markets, reflecting negatively on economic growth and job opportunities. It also makes the domestic market less attractive to local and foreign investors, owing to rising operating costs and a decline in commercial activity and domestic consumption caused by the depletion of citizens' purchasing power. The repercussions of linking the financing of the financial grant to higher fuel levies are not confined to its direct impacts; rather, its primary danger lies in being an indicator of the absence of a comprehensive, long-term vision for reform. Amid the urgent need for structural reform of the public sector, rationalizing expenditure, activating collection mechanisms, broadening the tax base, and strengthening mechanisms to combat tax evasion, waste, and corruption, the state resorts to immediate, easily implemented options such as imposing taxes and levies on vital goods, while neglecting fairer and more effective measures such as taxing maritime public property, and turning a blind eye to addressing the root causes of the current financial crisis. The government's adoption of apiecemeal approach, by placing additional financial burdens on citizens to finance fragmented grants, leads only to deepening social imbalances and widening disparities among groups, without contributing to a sustainable solution to the crisis. This may justify the challenge filed by some against the decision before the State Shura Council, for exceeding the limits of authority, as they put it. What cannot be justified, however, is that the challenge, if accepted, could prevent the payment of the grant, even though its value meets only a tiny fraction of what military personnel actually need to live a dignified life after salaries and wages shrank to around 20% of what they were before the crisis for those still in active service, while standing even lower for those placed into retirement. What is required today is not mere circumstantial solutions resting on the imposition of further burdens, but a correction of salaries through the formulation of integrated fiscal policies grounded in fairness, and a comprehensive national strategy that reorders priorities, respects the rights of military personnel and retirees, and lays the foundations for genuine fiscal and economic reform that restores confidence in public policies, rather than deepening frustration and entrenching distrust in the state. For trust is not restored by promises, but by actions. Translated from Arabic with AI. [Read it in Arabic](https://ghazimahmoud.com/articles/2025-06-11-d66175/) ## Published in - [Channel 23](https://ch23.com/Article/273175/منحة-العسكريين:-مقاربة-تفتقر-للعدالة-والرؤية-الاصلاحية) - [Lebanon Files](https://www.lebanonfiles.com/2025/articles/باقلامهم/منحة-العسكريين-مقاربة-تفتقر-للعدالة-و/) - [MTV Lebanon](https://www.mtv.com.lb/news/1582064) - [OZ Arab Media](https://ozarab.media/منحة-العسكريين-مقاربة-تفتقر-للعدالة-و/) ## More on the Lebanese economy [All articles on this subject](https://ghazimahmoud.com/en/articles/leb/) [5 Mar 2025 · Prospective Oil Wealth and Its Role in Lebanon's Economic Recovery · Channel 23, MTV Lebanon ](https://ghazimahmoud.com/en/articles/2025-03-05-60c23e/) [19 Feb 2025 · The New Government and Increasing the Electricity Supply · MTV Lebanon, Channel 23 ](https://ghazimahmoud.com/en/articles/2025-02-19-ad5296/) [5 Feb 2025 · Lebanon's Oil Wealth: Back to Square One · Channel 23, Lebanon Files ](https://ghazimahmoud.com/en/articles/2025-02-05-aacbe5/)