Wage Hike Committee Backs Payment without Installments, Calls for Reforms

A committee that was tasked to amend the wage scale draft-law has lowered the raise but said in a report that the state was able to pay without installments starting July 1, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported Sunday.

The ministerial-parliamentary committee, which studied the public sector pay hike after lawmakers failed to approve the draft-law, completed its report on Saturday night and is expected to refer it to Speaker Nabih Berri in the coming hours.

Berri has said that he would invite MPs for a session to discuss the amended draft-law as soon as the committee refers the report to him.

Al-Hayat said that the committee's members have suggested lowering the pay hike but called for its payment without installments starting July 1.

It set a series of steps to fund the scale, including taxes, reforms and combating waste of public money, the newspaper said.

But the committee agreed to leave discussions on a possible one percent raise of Value Added Tax to lawmakers. Another alternative lies in raising it from 10 to 15 percent on luxury items.

Minister Nabil de Freij told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that the discussion on the VAT hike was left for MPs over differences among the committee's members.

The issue still needs time to be resolved, he said.

Public sector employees and teachers have called for the payment of the scale in the numbers initially approved by former Premier Najib Miqati's government in 2012 and has rejected installments.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, has organized several strikes and protests to pressure MPs into approving their demands.