Bahrain Hikes Salaries For Government Workers

Bahrain has announced bonuses for government employees and selective staff, according to a decree issued on January 1, 2014 by the state’s prime minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

The government has also announced an extra bonus of BD1, 500 for staff members who have helped out in an emergency, crisis or disaster.

According to the decree, around 15,000 married women employees will have their social allowance increased in a bid to ensure gender equality and to activate a national model that integrates women’s needs.

The benefits are estimated to cost the government BD6 million annually.

Employees’ communication allowance will now include fax and internet, as per the latest bonus package.

Salaries in Bahrain increased on average by 2.4 per cent in 2013, according to a report by Hay Group released last year.

Following the Arab Spring unrest, GCC states have been piling up pressure on their coffers as they announce wage hikes for public sector employees.

Recently the IMF warned Kuwait to reign in its public spending, especially on its wage bill in order to maintain its fiscal position.

“The mission underlines the need to contain current spending, especially in the public wage bill, to provide fiscal buffers in the case of an oil price shock, and to continue to save for intergenerational equity,” the fund said.

Oman’s public sector wage bill is also expected to rise by as much as OMR800 to OMR900 million in 2014, according to its finance minister Darwish al-Balushi. The wage increase, if sanctioned, could put heavy pressure on the sultanate’s state finances since its total budget spending is projected at OMR13.5billion.

Qatar too spent a record QAR34.1 billion on public sector wages in 2012/13, nearly 15 per cent more than in the previous year, according to official data.

Last month, the Dubai government increased the basic salaries of certain public sector employees by up to 100 per cent. The move benefited 32 per cent of the emirate’s government staff.

The IMF has cautioned the GCC that if the public wage bill rises further, the region might find it hard to reverse the trend when cutting back on social spending.