Parliament approves reduction of ministers’ pensions

CAIRO – 18July 2018: Egypt’s Parliament approved on Tuesday a draft law that sees the reduction of the pensions of ministers and governors and their deputies by more than 50percent to rationalize government expenditure.

The new draft law stipulates that pensions received upon retirement will be reduced from 80 percent to 25 percent as part of the state’s economic endeavour to revitalize the state’s economy.

The problem is that there are various officials that are given minister-like ranks in different sectors after they retire and that exhausts great amounts of money from the state's budget, Speaker of Parliament, Ali Abdel Aal, stated in press remarks in comment on the new draft law.

He pointed out that all these efforts aim at addressing the difficult economic circumstances facing the country.

Under the government of Sherif Ismail, the state initiated a set of reforms that include the pound’s flotation in November 2016, VAT introduction and subsidy cuts, backed by a $12 billion three-year loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A new wave of price hikes in tune with the increase of fuel prices took effect in July, as part of reform program.

On March 29, the committee set the overnight rate and the overnight lending rate at 16.75 percent and 17.75 percent, respectively. In February, the committee lowered the interest rates by 1 percent for the first time since the flotation of the Egyptian currency in November 2016, after inflation rates slowed down.

The Egyptian government expected inflation to decline by the end of 2017/2018 from 17 percent to 13 percent, according to former Minister of Finance Amr el-Garhy.