Kuwait Cabinet gives initial approval for salary hikes

Kuwait City: The Kuwaiti Cabinet on Tuesday affirmed initial approval for a rise in Kuwaiti employees' salaries, officials announced.

Following a Cabinet meeting held on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Faisal Al Hajji, said that the increment would be disclosed on Sunday, one day ahead of Kuwait's celebration of its National and Liberation Days.

Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti Al Seyassah paper quoted what it called reliable sources on Tuesday saying that the total value of the hike would be 1.2 billion Kuwaiti dinars (Dh16.31b).

It further stated that the increment would range from 100 to 200 dinars distributed amongst three categories.

According to the paper, Kuwaiti employees with a salary of 750 dinars or less will get a rise of 200 dinars, employees with a salary of 750 to 1,000 dinars will get a hike of 150 dinars, and those with more than 1,000 dinars salary will get an increment of 100 dinars.

The paper went on to add that the increment will include all Kuwaiti employees in both the private and public sector.

MPs have demanded that the Cabinet follows other GCC states who have hiked the salaries of national employees. Faced with increasing living costs and growing inflation while the state's budget for the fiscal year 2006/2007 went beyond $20 billion, Kuwaitis have called for a surge in their salaries since late 2007.

- Laila Ali is a journalist based in Kuwait