Egypt’s Cabinet will discuss the drafted decree regarding wage caps in the administrative arm of the government, which sets the rate at 36 times the minimum wage of a third grade employee in the same government body, Al-Ahram daily reported today.

The decree draft stipulates that all public servants whose total income equals the wage cap file an annual earnings report to their government employer.

The battle for wage caps has already started in the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Last month, Mahmoud Issa, the minister, set a maximum salary for employees in organisations dependent on his ministry, such as the Industrial Modernisation Centre (IMC). He asked the centre's administration for a list of employees on salaries of over LE20,000 per month.

The centre’s head, Hany El-Ghazaly, refused to cut his salary accordingly, saying that he will await the Cabinet’s decision on the issue. He also indicated yesterday that he maintains his legal rights to resign his position and receive full compensation as stipulated by the law; as such a wage cut would be considered a unilateral amendment of his employment contract.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mahmoud Issa announced that El-Ghazaly had been suspended while under investigation for irregularities in his running of the IMC, as well as raising his own monthly salary to LE70,000 (US$11,600).

Egypt’s finance minister, Hazem El-Biblawi, said in July that the government would take quick steps towards implementing the wage caps, without awaiting the results of in-depth reviews currently underway on salaries reform. He estimated that it could take over a year to conduct a proper study of the issue.

Since taking office last March, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has promised to cap salaries for top government officials in order to fend off public criticism that managers are over paid.