Egypt's Ministry of Finance sets an annual budget that will cost the state's treasury 150 billion Egyptian pounds to increase salaries and pensions, said the Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait in a statement earlier this week. Maait added that this will be disbursing starting from April, as a way to control inflation and ease financial burdens on Egyptians, while the minimum salary increase will be 1,000 pounds and the budget includes an eight percent periodic bonus. Government employees covered by the Civil Service Law will receive a periodic bonus of a minimum of 125 pounds starting from July 1, the same will be applied to employees not covered by the Civil Service Law starting from April 1. "The FY 2022/2023 budget reserve will be redirected to the budget's wage allocations to spend on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's new social initiative," Maait explained. About 35 million Egyptians will be benefiting from the President's new social protection measures, according to Egyptian parliament's Budget Committee chairman, Fakhry El Fiqi. The state treasury will bear 8 billion pounds, as the tax exemption limit will be expanding the tax exemption limit on annual income by 24 percent, to be 30, 000 pounds. The state will bear 6.5 billion pounds annually for a 25 percent increase in monthly funds for beneficiaries of the Takaful and Karama solidarity program, and 55 billion pounds will be reserved for a 15 percent raise in pensions.
