Inflation watchdog underway

Private sector and labor unions pick representatives to Indicator Committee

The chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture of Beirut & Mount Lebanon selected each of board member Nabil Fahed, advisor Albert Nasr, and head of the Lebanese Franchise Association Charles Arbid to represent it at the ‘Indicator Committee’. The said committee will be tasked with monitoring and determining the inflation rate.

The Association of Lebanese Industrialists (ALI) will be represented at the committee by its vice-president Ziad Bekdache, and its board member Walid Assaf. The General Confederation of Labor Unions (GCLU) will be represented by its President Ghassan Ghosn and Vice-president Hassan Faqih.

The Ministry of Labor has called upon the leading business associations and labor unions in the country to choose their representatives to the Indicator Committee. This step came in light of recurrent calls to activate the committee’s work within the ongoing debate over raising the minimum wage.

ALI board member Ziad Bekdache reiterated that the association will not approve increasing the minimum wage. “Any increase on wages would be a waste if critical files like health coverage, tuition fees, and transportation costs were not tackled,” he said.

The GCLU has granted the cabinet until October 12 to enact the wage increase bill, threatening to take to streets if the demand was not met.