Cairo: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak proposed yesterday a salary increase of about 30 per cent for public-sector employees to compensate them for recent large increases in prices, especially of food.
"It will be about 30 per cent," Mubarak said in a May Day speech to the national trade unions federation.
Instead of waiting for the start of the financial year on July 1, the government should try to pay the increase with immediate effect, said Mubarak, whose government faces worker unrest and the possibility of a widespread strike next week.
"I ask the government and the parliament to agree quickly on the best options and ... the measures necessary to make available real resources so that we can go ahead with implementation with effect from May," he said.
He did not elaborate on the effect on the government's 2008-09 budget, which in draft form allows for a 15 per cent increase in salaries and a budget deficit equivalent to 6.9 percent of gross domestic product.
The government, on the defensive after a wave of strikes and protests against high prices and low salaries, had already promised that the annual salary rise would be higher.
In the year to March, bread and grain prices soared 48.1 per cent, fruit and vegetable prices rose by over 20 per cent, and edible oils were up 45.2 per cent.
