Salameh Says State Treasury Can't Endure New Wage Scale without Reforms
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh stressed on Wednesday that the state treasury will not endure the endorsement of the new salary scale without causing a turmoil in the Lebanese economy.
“The state's treasury will be able to cover only 24 percent annually of the new wage scale costs,” Salameh said in comments published in al-Liwaa newspaper.
He pointed out that the state should fortify its resources and end squandering by implementing reforms that create financial surplus.
However, Salameh expressed optimism over the matter if the stability was maintained locally and the economy revived.
The joint parliamentary committees failed again on Tuesday to secure the funds and refer the new wage scale to the parliament for endorsement.
The main point of contention is the Value Added Tax.
The Syndicate Coordination Committee had warned of escalation in the protests, of an open-ended strike and of boycotting (the correction of) official exams.
Former Prime Minister Najib Miqati's cabinet endorsed in 2012 a new salary scale for public employees ending a long dispute that had prompted the SCC to hold several sit-ins and strikes.
President Michel Suleiman signed the decree mid-June 2013 and it was referred to the joint parliamentary committees for further scrutiny.
The wage increase will be retroactive from July 1, 2012.
The state treasury will have more than $1.2 billion to cover as there are over 180,000 public sector employees including military personnel.
09 April 2014, 08:12
38
They are talking about removing subsidies from electricity and raising the TVA to 13-15 %. Laughable indeed... They want to remove subsidies so the citizen will pay actual costs plus but they are against privatization of electricity. The end result means the citizen will be paying for inflated rates and for inefficiencies of EDL that is overloaded with redundant employees imposed on it by the terror party. If subsidies of electricity are to be removed, it makes absolute sense to privatize the EDL and open it for competition which would at least result in reduced rates to the end user.
09 April 2014, 10:24
37
I don't think you read, and if you do read you don't seem to comprehend what the man is saying. Actual costs for generating power by EDL are way too high considering its known inefficiencies and employee overload. On the other hand, if EDL is privatized, the actual costs for producing power will be much lower since private companies tend to reduce overhead and improve service.
09 April 2014, 11:37
35
and of course ,Flamethrower, the author of "How to Build a successful Team" is in a position to know whether Salameh is a team player or not.....LOL!
09 April 2014, 11:48
02
In other words: Stop stealing and cut unnecessary jobs and maybe we'll be able to afford the new wage scale.
09 April 2014, 12:36
05
On the issue f electricity and cost, one key area of reform is to start collecting fees from the southern suburbs and eliminate all illegal tappings to the power grid. There has to be over 45% of the income lost there.
Of course reform is needed everywhere but you have to start at the top and remove sectarianism from all political appointments and the ball should roll from there. One can only dream that Lebanon would one day have a real democracy but is it possible in a place where even some decided that allah should have is own party? Have they even consulted with allah to really find out if he wanted a party in the first place?
09 April 2014, 20:32
13
(1). When a top economist talks, it is always wise to listen carefully. Our economy has been in steady decline since 2005. The Hezbollah led M8 alliance came up with one bad decision after the other, with one occupation after the other, with a major war, in fact with everything that chipped off at the health of the economy. One of the main tenets of the economy, tourism is literally dead, the hospitality sector so dependent on it faring no better, the dole has seen a steep rise added to the theft of our jobs by Syrian refugees.
09 April 2014, 20:33
13
(2). A lot has happened since 2005, therefore we all need to understand that yes, the Lebanese citizen now is paying the price of terrible mismanagement by the M8 team, though I sympathize with the citizen of course, but we also need to accept and understand that we now need to raise our economic productivity and the GDP too, that is if we want to spread the added benefit to all our citizens. Such situations are never sweet, but by the same token, it doesn't mean that we have to sit cross legged either. The time has now dawned for us to start working ardently to recover the lost ground of incompetitiveness largely thanks to an M8 that could not accept its limitations and greed.
