Caretaker Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram after a meeting with the price index commission January 13, 2023. (Credit: Screenshot LBCI)
BEIRUT — Lebanon's caretaker Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram announced Friday he intends to increase private sector minimum wages and transport allowances, saying he will "push" for these measures to be adopted in the public sector as well. He also announced an increase in assistance to schools, as public school teachers have been on strike since the beginning of the week.
"We have agreed on the need to add LL1.9 million to the previous [minimum wage] increase and to raise the transportation allowance to LL125,000 [per day] in the private sector," Bayram said after a meeting with the Price Index Commission.
"We will push for this to be adopted in the public sector," he told a press conference held after the meeting, as the country sinks deeper into economic collapse and the national currency has again broken previous records of depreciation against the dollar.
"We have also double the amount of tuition assistance," he said. "In public schools it will be LL3 million per child, and in private schools LL6 million per child, with a maximum of three children" covered by this aid.
With Lebanon mired in a severe economic crisis since 2019, the value of lira-denominated salaries has melted.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with the World Bank (WB) director of Middle East operations, Jean-Christophe Carret, Friday morning to discuss, among other things, aid for public sector teachers.