The Egyptian government is set to continue improving wage levels in 2024 to alleviate the financial burdens faced by citizens since the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid subsequent geopolitical tensions, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said on Sunday.
According to an official statement, Maait highlighted the government’s efforts thus far, citing two wage increase packages implemented in April and October 2023.
These packages, which accounted for EGP 210 billion from the country’s treasury, aimed to provide relief to public sector employees and pensioners, despite the pressures on the national budget due to several factors including the sharp rise in prices of essential goods and services, Maait added.
In September, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced a series of additional measures to address inflationary pressures, including increasing the minimum wage for public sector employees from EGP 3,500 to EGP 4,000.
This followed an earlier increase in March when the minimum wage was raised from EGP
3,000 to EGP 3,500.
Overall, the government has progressively raised the minimum wage from EGP 1,600 to EGP 4,000 over the past four years, Maait indicated.
Moreover, the government raised the annual income tax exemption threshold in 2023 from EGP 24,000 to EGP 45,000, Maait further noted.
The government, recognizing the challenges faced by vulnerable households, also took steps to support Takaful and Karama benefits for its five million households, he added.
These benefits were raised by over 40 percent through two packages, implemented within 2023, Maait indicated.
Notably, Egypt experienced a surge in headline inflation rates during the first nine months of 2023, reaching its peak in September at 40.3 percent.
However, the inflationary trend began to decelerate in October, with the annual headline inflation rate declining to 36.4 percent in November, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Source: State Information Service Egypt