Wage rates will not be reduced despite an ongoing debate on the application of the new Civil Service Law, Finance Minister Hany Qadry Dimian reiterated in a statement Tuesday.
The government is obliged by the Civil Service Law to pay any differences resulting from the increased value of the payroll tax due to the amendment of basic and variable payments in the new law.
Wages will be restructured after the application of the new law, which has public employees worried their pay will decrease.
The new Civil Service Law aims to control administrative practices by addressing flaws in the former law, which regulated the work of civilian public employees, according to the minister.
This law should stop the increase in the cost of wages, which forms a burden on the state, he added.
According to the law, bonuses and rewards will not be added to the basic salaries until after five years of work.
Dimian said the public treasury can no longer afford the rewards and bonuses prescribed in the old law for workers in the administrative system of the state, which equals more than six million employees.
"We have to unite to protect the national economy," he mentioned.
The previous bonuses prescribed in the laws will change and will become a ratio estimated in comparison to the basic wage, the minister said in an earlier statement in July.
He added that this move seeks to alleviate the escalating costs for salaries, which increased from LE83 billion in 2009/2010 to about LE218 billion in the 2015/2016.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
