CABINET WATCH- Cabinet approves pension, public sector wage increases: The Madbouly Cabinet has approved draft bills to carry forward President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s recent decisions to increase pensions and wages for state employees, according to a cabinet statement. The bills are now with the House of Representatives to be made into law.

One draft will set the minimum monthly pensions under the social insurance scheme at EGP 900 and see payouts rise by at least EGP 150 or 15% starting 1 July. Another will raise public sector wages by 7% for those in state organizations covered by the Civil Service Act, and by 10% for employees not governed by the act. The minimum raise increment for each category will be EGP 75 in the coming fiscal year.

Is the new minimum wage covered by the bills? It’s unclear if El Sisi’s parallel decision to raise the minimum wage to EGP 2k for state employees is a feature of either bill. The decisions, which the president announced last weekend, will cost the state coffers an added EGP 59 bn a year: EGP 30.5 bn in wage increases and a separate EGP 28.5 bn in pension adjustments.

Cabinet also greenlit a proposal to promote eligible government employees at the end of the current fiscal year on 30 June. Promotions will come with raises of no less than 5%. The decision will not need to go through the House, and will only require ratification from the head of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration, Cabinet Spokesman Nader Saad told Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal on the airwaves yesterday (watch, runtime: 5:28).