Rise in minimum wage to be fully applied by end of Nov.: Presidency

CAIRO – 4 November 2019: Presidential spokesman Bassam Radi on Sunday said that the rise in the minimum wage of employees of the government institutions, decreed earlier by the president, would by fully implemented by the end of November.

"By the end of November, the [new] minimum wage will be fully implemented in all ministries and government institutions and authorities nationwide with retroactive effect," Radi said in an interview with Al-Hekaya program on MBC Masr.

Radi said that the presidential decree to increase the minimum wage included 3,200 government bodies linked to the relevant ministries, 721 of whom have not yet got the new rise. Finance Minister Mohamed Ma'eet on Sunday said that 3,286 are exactly included by the decision.

The spokesman also referred to the private sector, saying that applying minimum wage decision for private companies can take place in the future, but explained that the decree for now focused on the government sector which hired millions of people.

Concerning health, Egypt will be announced free of Hepatitis C (HCV) by next May, Radi said, adding that the state aims for ending the waiting lists for cases that require critical surgeries nationwide.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday met with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli and Finance Minister Ma'eet, during which he followed up on the procedures for the full implementation of the decision to raise minimum wage, and reviewed the finance ministry's efforts in this regard.