Economic Development Minister Othman Mohamed Othman on Sunday said the Supreme Council for Wages would soon announce a new national minimum wage. In a television interview, the minister explained that, according to studies conducted from 2005 to 2009, the minimum wage had been set at LE214 per month, but would be raised this year to LE280 per month in light of rising commodity prices. "Some people have misunderstood a previous court order in this regard and demanded that the minimum monthly wage be set at LE1200," Othman said. "But Egypt's self-sufficiency index stands at LE165 per month," he added, contending that there were three million Egyptian families currently living on this modest income. The minister put a suitable minimum monthly income for a family of five at LE1000, while admitting that some 30 percent of Egyptian families currently made do with less than that. He also noted that a further 20 percent lived under the roughly US$2-per-day poverty line. "The government must improve the public services available to these social brackets," he said. "They need better education and enhanced health privileges." On commodities subsidies, Othman noted that the government was in the process of "setting policies aimed at ensuring that subsidies go to those who need them most." As to whether recent increases in Egypt's economic growth rate had translated into improved living standards among the public, he said: "Studies have proved that living standards for some 8.5 million citizens improved in February 2008, compared to the same period in 2005--despite rising foodstuff prices and the global financial crisis." Yet the minister admitted that there were another 6.7 million citizens forced to live under the poverty line as a result of soaring food prices. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
