The government agreed to grant public sector employees six additional salaries, but decided not to include them in the basic salary. This procedure makes these increases temporary monthly compensation that is not added to the employees’ fixed salary.
This decision reflects the government’s inability to radically address the salary problem. The reason for avoiding incorporating increases into the basic salary is to avoid a significant increase in the amount of compensation, which is something that cannot be financed in light of the lack of financial resources, according to “economic and financial expert Dr. Bilal Alama.”
The approved increases are added to the basic salary separately from previous increases. Therefore, someone whose basic salary is “1 million Lebanese pounds” will receive an increase of “6 million Lebanese pounds,” which is equivalent to “about $60.”
Alama believes that these increases range between “$100” and “$180” as a maximum. However, attention is turning towards a potential and significant rise in prices, especially after the government’s decision to increase the price of a can of gasoline by “300 thousand liras” and raise the value-added tax by “1%” to “12%” instead of “11%.”
Alama explains that the Lebanese citizen will face losses and inflation much greater than what he will receive from these increases. In other words, the citizen will pay much more than he will benefit from the increases, especially since the price increase will affect all goods.
Alama believes that inflation and losses will affect various social segments, especially those who are not employees in the public sector. This means that this decision will reflect negatively on the people who earn their living daily.
