A round-up of public finance news stories from the Middle East and Africa you might have missed this week (June 10–14).

IMF tells Kenya to curb wage bill

Kenya’s new tier of government is adding to spending pressures, requiring wage restraints to keep the fiscal deficit under control, the International Monetary Fund has said. This week, the Kenyan government presented the country’s first budget statement under a devolved system of governance that was introduced after national elections in March. (Business Day Live, South Africa)

Lebanon's budget deficit falls

Lebanon’s budget deficit in the first two months of 2013 reached 16.05%, or LL449bn, compared with 18.1%, or LL538bn, in the same period of last year, registering a drop of LL89bn, the Finance Ministry said this week. (The Daily Star, Lebanon)

Israeli draft budget faces widespread criticism from lawmakers

Finance Minister Yair Lapid handed the Knesset his draft budget for 2013/14 this week, and was met with a storm of criticism from both coalition and opposition lawmakers who vowed they would amend the most painful spending cuts and tax hikes it contains. (Haaretz, Israel)

Bahrain agrees to increase payouts to needy families to end budget impasse

Bahrain has agreed to increase payouts to around 100,000 needy families in an attempt to end the seven-month impasse on the national budget. Breadwinners with an income less than BD1,000 ($2,618) will be eligible to receive the monthly anti-inflation allowance. (Trade Arabia, Bahrain)

Nigerian president orders recovery of $9.6bn underpaid by oil firms

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has directed all agencies affected by the audit reports of Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative to recover the outstanding $9.6bn uncovered by the audit exercise in the oil and gas sector. (The Guardian, Nigeria)