CAIRO: The Ministry of Finance has finalized a controversial draft social insurance law that the People's Assembly (PA), the Doctors' Syndicate and the ministry have been debating over the past year. The new law, which constitutes one chapter of the insurance law, is said to raise retirement fees to a minimum of 70 percent of employees' salary, increasing it from the current law's 50 percent. The new law will also allow pensions to be inherited and will provide a LE 100 fixed pension for unemployed senior citizens over 65. To finance this new law, the finance ministry plans to invest the monthly social insurance fees that are deducted from employees' salaries. The ministry has not, however, finalized the new medical insurance law, according to Hamdy El-Sayed, president of the Doctors' Syndicate and head of the PA's health committee. Last December, the finance ministry rejected the new medical insurance law proposed by the Ministry of Health for lack of financial resources. The finance ministry is set to adjust the new law to fit its budget and present it to the PA by March 2008, El Sayed told Daily News Egypt.
