Rs.5,000 wage hike may be extended to private sector
View(s):A wage hike of Rs. 5,000 per month to public sector employees to be announced in Thursday’s interim budget may also be extended to private sector workers.
Treasury officials said that the government would most likely request the private sector to also implement the proposal when it is presented in Parliament.
While the 3-month budget would represent a quarter of the Rs.1.654 trillion-worth 2015 budget presented by the last government, a new cost is the additional sum of Rs. 60 billion for the wage increase which would first be an initial Rs. 5,000 in February followed by another
Rs. 5,000 later.
The interim budget to be presented in parliament on Thursday will curtail spending of 37 ministries while introducing pragmatic fiscal measures to tackle revenue reduction, Treasury officials revealed.
The budget also includes provision to increase the interest rate to 15 per cent on senior citizens’ deposits upto a maximum of Rs.1 million. The earlier government had introduced a budget proposal to offer 12 per cent interest on such deposits not exceeding Rs. 2.5 million per person.
The ministries will be allocatednecessary finances on the basis of previous allocations made to each ministry by the Treasury during the first three months of 2014.
Thereafter a full calendar 2015 budget would be presented by a new government elected at the June parliamentary polls.
Some of the proposals made in 2015 budget of the previous regime have been slightly altered or improved in the budget which would also include the 100-day relief programme.
Pensions will be increased by Rs. 3,500 while the Samurdhi allowance will be doubled. An allowance of Rs. 5,000 will be paid to pensioners till the settlement of their pension payment anomalies. The price of a domestic gas cylinder will be reduced by Rs. 300.