The National Wages Council (NWC) has approved raising the minimum wage for private sector employees from EGP 3,000 to EGP 3,500, effective 1 January 2024, according to a Cabinet statement on Friday.
The NWC also has decided to pay an EGP 200 annual periodic bonus for workers in the private sector, up from EGP 100 previously.
“Increasing the minimum periodic bonus by 100 percent this year is targeted at low-wage segments [of the workforce],” said Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said, who also chairs the NWC.
El-Said added that with this move, the council aims to strike a balance between the interests of employees and employers.
The NWC’s decision eases the burden on citizens during the current inflationary wave, she highlighted.
In January 2023, the minimum wage for the private sector was increased from EGP 2,400 to EGP 2,700 per month, and then to EGP 3,000 in June.
Inflation
Egypt’s headline annual inflation decelerated to 38 percent in September, down from 39.7 percent in the month prior, but still well above 15 percent in the same month of 2022, according to data from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Meanwhile, the country’s annual core inflation rate declined to 39.7 percent in September, from 40.4 percent in August, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said.
In September, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced a series of measures to alleviate financial strains on citizens, including raising the minimum wage for public sector employees from EGP 3,500 to EGP 4,000 and increasing the exceptional cost of living allowance to EGP 600.
Source: Ahram Online
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