Public Sector Wages to be Paid 'from Reserve Funds' without Parliament Role

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

The salaries of public employees will be paid this month from “reserve funds” without resorting to parliamentary legislation, officials said on Wednesday, as the controversial issue of the new wage scale remained deadlocked.

Several meetings were held away from the media spotlight at the offices of MPs in parliament. The talks gathered Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, head of al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora, Mustaqbal bloc MP Ghazi Youssef, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour and Lebanese Forces bloc MP George Adwan.

Another meeting was held between Khalil and Change and Reform bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan.

“The likely formula to resolve the issue of salaries is curbing unnecessary spending from the reserve funds available under Law 238 and redistributing it to secure the cost,” LBCI TV quoted Khalil as saying.

The TV network said “the salaries of public employees for this month have already been secured.”

Meanwhile, Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) quoted sources who attended the meetings as saying that “the finance minister will propose a mechanism for the salaries during tomorrow's cabinet session, which will not require going to parliament.”

"The wages will be paid from the reserve funds, without the passing of a law in parliament," a source who took part in the talks told MTV.

As for Saniora's stance on the new wage scale, MTV quoted the source as telling Khalil that "the wage scale cannot be approved in its current format."

The former premier explained to the finance minister "the need to hike the VAT tax by 1%, slash the wage scale's cost by 20% and revise electricity tarrifs," MTV said.

But Saniora's press office said the ex-PM "did not reveal any information or make any statement after receiving Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil at his office in parliament," denying "remarks attributed to him by some websites and media outlets" as "baseless."

On Tuesday, Khalil reiterated his call for issuing legislation aimed at paying the salaries of public employees, warning that civil servants will be deprived of their wages if no such law is passed. “Should there be no law, there won't be any salaries,” the minister cautioned.

Y.R.

S.D.B.

Comments 1
Thumb Senescence 24 July 2014, 14:19

We have reserve funds? We're broke to the bone.