The Ministry of Finance plans to submit a bill to regulate the wage system for the cabinet, according to Minister of Finance Hany Kadry Dimian, who said the current system of wages is more random than organised.
The ministry has reduced wage allocations in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (2014/2015) to EGP 207bn, as compared to EGP 209bn written in the draft budget that was rejected earlier by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, according to a statement by the finance ministry.
Al-Sisi issued a law that would put the maximum wage at EGP 42,000 and the minimum wage at EGP 35,000 per two months for government employees.
The wage system in the state’s administrative agencies requires modification, especially specifying minimum and maximum wages, according to Ayman al-Kaffas, the official spokesman of the Ministry of Finance.
“Wages consist of nine types of benefits, representing the greatest percentage of variable pay, and require a comprehensive review,” he said.
Al-Kaffas denied that the bill has been completed, saying: “The Ministry of Finance aims at developing a system to take into account qualifications and career progressions in the new law.”
He also stated that setting a maximum limit for wages reduced the amount allocated for wages from EGP 209bn in the draft budget to EGP 207bn in the new budget. “This is part of the ministry’s framework to cut the budget deficit to 10% by the end of the current fiscal year,” he pointed out.
Aadila Mahdi, professor of economics at Cairo University, welcomed the government’s move to amend the imbalances in the current wage system.
“It is not sensible for variable pay to make up more than 80% and fixed pay only about 20% of the overall wage. The adjustment in wages requires modifications in benefits as well, so that benefits that are cut can become part of fixed pay,” she stated.
Mahdi demanded equality in the wage system and in the minimum wage within all state institutions, stressing that the minimum should not differ from the judiciary to those employed by the ministries of Electricity and Petrol.
