CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak has asked the government to grant public sector employees a 10 percent social raise, up from the 5 percent announced two weeks ago. Employees will also receive the 11 percent annual salary increase announced by Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros-Ghali last week. "This shows that the president empathizes with what Egyptian citizens are going through, National Democratic Party MP Mohamed Khail Kwaitah told Daily News Egypt. "Currently, Egyptians are suffering from a huge increase in prices accompanied by a global economic recession and increasing unemployment rates, Kwaitah said. "So our president, who is aware of this, ordered the government to provide a 10 percent social raise, he added. Although the president's decision was warmly welcomed at the parliament, Sunday's session was mainly focused on discussing the proposed state budget for fiscal year 2009/2010, which Ghali had briefed parliament about last week. Government subsidies were the top issue on the agenda, independent MP Gamal Zahran said.
