FINANCIAL NEWS

Kuwait public sector wages get a big rise

14 Mar 2012

(MENAFN) Kuwait’s government agreed on considerable increases in public sector wages while, ordering measures to head off inflation in the prices of basic goods, Reuters reported.

Government workers’ basic salaries would increase 25 percent, while pensioners would receive 12.5 percent more, according to authorities.

The upward pressure on wages in Kuwait, partly due to increased union activity since last year’s Arab Spring social unrest in the region, has become a major issue for economic policymakers.

The finance minister said recently public sector wages had risen to about 85 percent of the country’s oil revenues, which he called “a real danger.”

Also, Kuwait’s central bank governor Sheikh Salem Abdul-Aziz Al-Sabah resigned last month over complains of rapid rise in government spending.

For now, Kuwait has showed ability to cope with the recent public sector wage hike, helped by the high global oil prices, which brought the Gulf oil state USD47 billion budget surplus in the first nine months of 2011.

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