Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour issued a decree on Sunday giving state employees a 10 percent raise on basic salaries as of 30 June, 2014, Ahram Arabic news website reported. The law will include full-time and temporary employees working in state administrative facilities, public sector companies, local administration units, public agencies and other government institutions. Egypt's sprawling public sector comprises close to 7 million employees. A recent report by Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said most government employees are considered by the agency to be poor. The increase has already been accounted for in next year's budget, finance ministry spokesman Mesbah Qotb told Ahram Online. Egypt's budget for the 2014/2015 fiscal year, referred by the cabinet for presidential ratification last week, includes a 13 percent jump in spending on wages, from this year's budget to LE209 billion, according to Finance Minister Hany Kadry Demian, who added that this amounts ""exceeds the safe limit," hinting that the government would cut down on salaries in the future. The measure is designed to target the lowest-earning of government employees, namely in the education and healthcare sectors, as well as the state-run religious institution of Al-Azhar. Earlier this year, the interim government of Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawy introduced a new minimum wage of LE1,200 for public sector workers, a populist gesture which was reportedly forced on the cabinet. Source:Albawaba
