The building of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Finance, in the Palais de Justice district of Beirut. (Credit: P.H.B.)
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Ministry of Finance has officially announced that the salaries for all public sector employees have been transferred to the Banque du Liban (BDL) and will be accessible for withdrawal from their usual banks starting Friday, March 8.
A wave of protests and strikes have taken place in Beirut over the last couple months as workers reached new levels of frustration around pay that's a fraction of a livable wage and an unevenly distributed productivity bonus.
The salaries available for withdrawal had been delayed over the last ten days while government employees were on strike. Specifically, empty desks in the Ministry of Finance meant that the processing of payments was suspended.
Starting in mid-February, public sector workers went on strike decrying nearly worthless wages that hadn't been adjusted to the 98 percent inflation that has plague the Lebanese pound, and the fact that productivity bonuses had been granted to some sectors of the government while others were skipped over. Pensions were also a fraction of what they had been prior to the financial collapse that started in 2019.
The issue was resolved at the end of February by the outgoing government's Cabinet, led by Najib Mikati, which approved a temporary salary increase by decree. Additionally, the government promised to devise a new salary scale in the upcoming months and also ratified some of the salary increases granted in the Lebanon's 2024 budget, adopted at the end of January.
