All employees in the banking sector now benefit from the increase of 1,325,000 Lebanese pounds put in place by the “cost of living decree”
(n° 91 296) adopted about two months ago and entered into force on May 12, after being signed by the Head of State Michel Aoun, the outgoing Prime Minister Nagib Mikati, the Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil and the Labor Moustapha Bayram.
The measure was decided by the Board of Directors of the Association of Banks of Lebanon (ABL) on Wednesday and sent to the management of the country’s banking institutions in a circular issued by the organization (148/2022) dated yesterday and that L’Orient-Le Jour was able to consult. The increase is applicable retroactively from April 1 and will apply on the basis of 16 months per year, i.e. an increase of 21.2 billion pounds per employee, regardless of their remuneration.
The decree obliges employers to increase by 1,325,000 pounds all wages below 4 million (61,000 pounds for daily wages below 182,000 pounds). Above this threshold, the increase is optional. The decree had been adopted and then signed under pressure from the unions – in particular the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers – in order to compensate for part of the loss of purchasing power linked to the collapse of the pound. A measure that remains insufficient given the scale of the depreciation, the exchange rate hovering around 28,000 pounds to the dollar yesterday on the market (the increase is therefore equivalent to around fifty dollars). The banking sector had 18,440 employees at the end of 2021, according to recent figures published by the Banque du Liban. This represents a drop of almost 30% since the end of 2018, when the number of employees peaked.
All employees in the banking sector now benefit from the increase of 1,325,000 Lebanese pounds put in place by the “cost of living decree” (n° 91 296) adopted about two months ago and entered into force on 12 May, after being signed by Head of State Michel Aoun, outgoing Prime Minister Nagib Mikati, Minister of…