Damascus, SANA – President Bashar al-Assad issued on Wednesday three legislative decrees granting pay raises for state employees and pensioners and raising the minimum amount of pay exempted from taxes.

As per Legislative Decree no. 41 for 2015, civilian and military employees in all state establishments are granted a pay raise of SYP 2,500 to their monthly salaries.

This raise covers workers at joint-sector establishments in which the state has at least 75% share in, as well as individuals who are employed via contracts, on part-time basis, and so on, and the basis for calculating the raises for those individuals will be set by decisions issued by the Labor and Finance Ministers.

The decree also stipulates for increasing the minimum monthly wage for workers in the private sector, co-op sector, and joint sector establishments not covered by the state workers law to SYP 16,175.

Meanwhile, Legislative Decree no. 42 grants retired civilian and military employees a raise of SYP 2,500 to their pensions, and this also covers pensions received by the families of deceased pensioners.

These two decrees will be put into effect as of the first of October 2015.

The third decree, Legislative Decree no. 46, raises the minimum amount of pay for wages and salaries that is exempted from taxes from SYP 10,000 to 15,000.

Hazem Sabbagh