Business owners pledge to pay private sector allowance: MP

CAIRO – 12 July 2017: Business owners promised to implement private sector wage raises, head of the Parliament’s workers committee Gebali El-Maraghi said Wednesday.

Based on an initial agreement with the Minister of Manpower Mohamed Safaan and the Support Egypt Coalition at the Parliament, private sector employees will be given a special monthly allowance at a minimum value of LE 165 ($9.2) and maximum value of LE 330.

The official agreement will be signed early next week in order for payments to begin by July.

Before announcing the latest fuel price hikes and the new electricity tariffs, the government took a proactive measure to increase spending on social safety nets by LE 75 billion ($4.19 billion) and to increase bonuses of public sector employees.

The new allowance comes to protect private sector employees.

Safaan said in a televised interview on CBC satellite channel Tuesday that employers will not be obliged to pay this allowance, “but they could do it out of their social responsibility,” he said.

The initiative was originally announced by parliamentarian Mohamed Elsewedy, who told the same channel that they will coordination with the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) and all business unions to apply this increase.