The LE400 minimum wage set by Egypt's National Council of Wages last week represents "the best possible figure at the moment," Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said on Monday while presiding over the inauguration of several industrial and service projects in the northern canal city of Suez. “Raising the national minimum wage warrants an increase of the maximum wage,” he said. The prime minister went on to warn that minimum wage increases in the absence of corresponding increases in production can directly lead to price hikes and inflation, which would harm low-income segments in general and pensioners in particular. “Considering Egypt's current unemployment rate, raising the minimum wage further would serve to reduce employment opportunities for new entrants to the job market,” Nazif added. “It would also create a kind of black market for wages.” Translated from the Arabic Edition.
