The cabinet approved a maximum wage draft law in its last meeting, said Hazem Biblawy, former deputy prime minister of the recently resigned government. He also said the government decided to stop subsidizing natural gas for heavy energy consumption industries, such as steel, cement, marble, copper and aluminum factories. Biblawy added that all ministries agreed to reduce their budgets by 3 percent in order to reduce government spending in turn, and that the government would levy new custom duties and taxes on certain commodities, such as cigarettes, in order to combat smuggling. Meanwhile, the Suez Canal Authority decided to raise passage fees by 3 percent as of March, to put them in line with international rates. Translated from the Arabic Edition
