Public workers strike again

Cabinet says salary scale “almost there”

Public sector employees and public and private school teachers held another nationwide strike on Thursday (October 17), protesting the delay of their salary raise. The protestors threatened to paralyze the public administrations and educational sector. Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the Cabinet "will not jeopardize the stability of our monetary system."

The raise was approved by Cabinet in September. Its adoption is pending the availability of funds. A number of new taxes gained the preliminary approval of Cabinet on Wednesday (October 16).

The Ministry of Finance was asked to draft laws for the proposed taxes before the end of this month. The Cabinet will meet on October 31 to finalize the sources of funding the new salary scale, prior to passing it to Parliament.

The agreed revenue sources have so far reached some $1.4 billion. The initially approved taxes include adding the VAT on imported cars to 15 percent, increasing taxes on interests on customer deposits to seven percent, raising the fiscal stamp fee on construction permits, and increasing the fees paid to notary publics. Deliberations will continue over other tax proposal, like the fees to be imposed on public property violations.