Egypt's stock exchange is cutting the salaries of its top executives to cope with the deterioration in Bourse revenues and trading volume over the last few months.

 

The cuts include the salaries of the Bourse's chairman, his deputy, consultants and upper managers, the Al-Ahram daily newspaper reported.

 

Reductions range from 20 to 40 per cent for consultants and from 15 and 25 per cent for managers.

 

Bourse chairman Mohamed Omran also announced that restructuring is underway to find more efficient means to utilise the exchange's human resources.

 

Egypt's stock market has been struggling since it reopened in March, after a month's closure during the popular uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak.

 

In September, trading volumes dropped to a 10-year low, while the EGX30 main benchmark has plunged 38.5 per cent since the start of the year, reaching a level last seen during the 2008 global financial crisis.

 

The Bourse's fall has taken its toll on companies involved in the sector, with traders and the brokerage firms that employ them becoming increasingly concerned for their future as the losses spiral on.

 

It is the latest in a series of moves by Egyptian authorities to curb salaries.

 

Last month, the minister of foreign trade and industry, Mahmoud Issa, set a maximum salary for employees in organisations dependent on his ministry.

 

This was the first attempt to impose a salary cap on senior officials, which the government plans to apply across the public sector at the beginning of 2012.

 

Issa wants to start with the Industrial Modernisation Centre (IMC), which has been accused of persistent corruption and injustice when it comes to wage distribution.

 

The minister has asked CMI administration to submit a list of people receiving salaries of more than LE20,000 per month.

 

The EGX30 is trading up 0.17 per cent at 4,397 points in early Thursday trade, ahead of a four-day closure for the Eid Al-Adha holiday at the weekend.