The reversal came after angry people erupted into the streets of Beirut, the suburbs and provinces and they cut off several roads across the country with burning tires.
Following a cabinet session held on Thursday, Information Minister Jamal Jarrah said a decision was taken a day earlier to impose the 20 cents based on a proposal from the Minister of Communications, Mohammed Choucair.
The government says that such a decision would generate around $200 million in revenues.
On news about the government decision, protests spread across the country to the suburbs and provinces, prompting several deputies to change their position and say they were against the levy. Choucair told local television on Thursday evening that Prime Minister Saad Hariri
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....ordered him to cancel any charges on voice calls.
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, took to Twitter in the evening to explain that the 2020 state budget does not include any taxes and that the fee on WhatsApp calls has no relation to the budget.
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