Cabinet Approves Salaries Disbursement Based on New Wage Scale

After four cabinet meetings dedicated to address the controversial wage hike crisis, Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced Friday that the cabinet has reached an agreement on the issue.

Hariri announced that the “cabinet has agreed on an expedited draft law that includes tax adjustments,” noting that “it will be referred to the parliament.”

He assured that revenues for the salary scale “will be secured,” noting “keenness on preserving the State's finances.”

"We have set three basic criteria to address the issue," he said, referring to a "revised bill containing tax amendments that will be sent to the Parliament as soon as possible.”

The cabinet convened at the Grand Serail Friday, in a session dedicated to study the legal measures needed to address the controversial file.

“Consensus on solutions would save the country from crisis and enable us to make decisions to maintain the financial situation while securing the wage scale,” said Hariri at the beginning of the meeting.

“What is happening requires all of us to work in this spirit, whether in politics or economy or to secure the basic requirements of citizens such as electricity and other things,” he added.

He stressed that “rivalry does not fall in the interest of the administration of the state or citizens.”

The Cabinet on Thursday reached a solution to the wage hike crisis and scheduled another session Friday to discuss the sources of funding.

The crisis had erupted after the Constitutional Council revoked a tax law aimed at funding the scale following an appeal filed by ten MPs led by Sami Gemayel.

The ruling prompted the Cabinet to hold several emergency sessions in a bid to find alternative funding sources, amid protests and an open-ended strike that was declared by private and public school teachers and public employees.