Egyptian military council grants 15% salary hike to workers

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in Egypt, which has running the affairs of the country since the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak a week ago, has issued a decree granting State workers an increase of 15 per cent on their basic salary, exempt from taxes, with effect from April.
 
The Army issued a similar decree for civilian and military pensions without defining a maximum payment.
 
The move aims to improve living standards of citizens, who have been facing high inflation averaging nearly 15 per cent of the past few years, with a rise in prices of basic food commodities and other essentials.
 
Uncontrolled hikes in prices across the board, along with a failure of the previous regime to meet minimum wage demands, and wide scale corruption estimated at between US$100 billion and US$500 billion over the past few years, were some of the major factors that ignited Egypt’s successful revolution.
 
Losses during the unrest period in the country that started from 25 January are estimated at about US$300 million per day, with tourism the hardest hit sector. 
 
Losses are still accumulating due to the fact that many public institutions, including banks, the lifeblood of the economy, are not functioning smoothly under the pressure of strikes and sit-ins, calling for increased wages and a fairer distribution of revenues.
 
The Army promised to meet all legal demands at the appropriate time, and at the same time issued a warning late on Friday that it will not further allow or tolerate  the continuation of  these irresponsible acts that pose a danger to the nation at large, at a time when rebuilding the country’s economy should be a top priority.