Egypt: Al-Sisi raises minimum wage for public workers

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Egypt - President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi announced on Saturday a series of decisions to increase the income and benefits of public workers and pensioners, as well as to ease the burden on small farmers and defaulters.

The president made the announcements during his visit to Sods Al-Umaraa village in Beni Sueif governorate, which is one of the villages included in the Decent Life initiative.

The decisions included raising the monthly pension of the Takaful and Karama cash transfer programme, which serves 5 million households, by 15%. The president also ordered doubling the monthly exceptional cost of living bonus for all pensioners, who number 11 million citizens, to EGP 600 instead of EGP 300.

The president also increased the exceptional allowance for all employees of the state’s administrative apparatus, economic bodies, business sector companies, and the public sector, to EGP 600 instead of EGP 300. He also raised the minimum gross income to EGP 4,000 ($129) instead of EGP 3,500, for all employees of the state’s administrative apparatus and economic bodies.

The president also raised the income tax exemption limit to EGP 45,000 up from EGP 36,000, which means that more people will be exempted from paying income tax.

The president also instructed the Agricultural Bank of Egypt to launch an initiative to help small farmers and natural individuals who are in trouble with the bank before January 2022. He also ordered exempting defaulters from paying interest and fines for delaying the payment of instalments due to the General Authority for Reconstruction and Agricultural Development Projects, no later than the end of 2024.

The president’s visit to Beni Sueif came a few days after the governorate mourned 74 young men who died in Libya due to Storm Daniel. Libya is one of the main destinations for Egyptian workers in light of the economic situation in Egypt.