Solving Lebanon's Crisis Begins with Adjusting Salaries

The revelation of the World Bank loan to the Ministry of Finance and how it is to be spent, particularly the part relating to "financing linked to good performance conditions," sparked a sweeping wave of objections, especially since what is meant by good performance financing is funding bonuses for Ministry of Finance employees, or some of them, over a period of three years. Notably, the value of the bonuses amounts to 12.3 million US dollars, exceeding 36% of the value of the 34-million-dollar loan, according to the Ministry of Finance's statement. Instead of yesterday's statement by the Minister of Finance offering reassurance that the loan would be properly used in a way that activates and fortifies public finances, it served as an unconvincing justification for how the loan is to be spent, confirming to objectors the validity of their fears and the reasons that led to their objection, while also affirming the legitimacy of the demand by retirees and other military personnel and civil servants to be treated fairly in accordance with the laws in force. If the issue of the World Bank loan, and before it the financial grants to the military services, proves anything, it proves the government's abdication of its responsibility to adjust public sector salaries and wages at the appropriate time, and its disregard for the injustice inflicted upon military personnel, civil servants, and retirees as a result of the collapse in the value of their salaries and the withholding of their deposits in banks. While the caretaker government was supposed to take the initiative to adjust the salaries and wages of the public sector and the military and security services in proportion to the collapse of the national currency, the caretaker government persisted in resorting to haphazard and unlawful increases. Indeed, this government did not hesitate to exploit the controversy raised over the bonuses to deflect objections away from itself and pit civil servants and retirees themselves against one another, whereas the problem lies with and within the government, given its insistence on discriminating between members of the services and public administration employees through the proposed increases. The divergent statements issued by employees of certain administrations and retirees' committees have served to divert the demands from their primary course, whereas what is required is the concerted effort of all representatives of the services and public administrations to preserve their rights, which are eroding day after day. Meanwhile, leaks regarding the increases that the government is moving to approve reveal the government's continuation of and insistence on temporary and piecemeal remedies, as well as its continued discrimination among categories of civil servants, the military services, and retirees. It is feared that the government may have succeeded in diluting rightful demands while maintaining discretionary increases and postponing the overdue salary adjustment, without giving any consideration to the suffering endured by public sector employees, military personnel, retirees, and their families. This is especially true given that the temporary increases made to salaries and wages to date conceal an attempt by the caretaker government to extinguish acquired rights of civil servants, military personnel, and retirees, since the increases approved to date are included neither in the calculation of end-of-service indemnity nor in the calculation of retirement pensions. While the caretaker government uses available revenues and budget appropriations as a pretext for not adjusting salaries and wages and to justify continuing its discretionary increases, state revenues resumed rising starting in 2021 until they have become sufficient today to cover public sector salaries and wages as well as some state expenditures. Yet this increase in public revenues has not prompted the government to take the initiative to draw up a plan to adjust public sector salaries and wages in stages aligned with the growing capacity of public finances and their revenues. By contrast, the proposal of the Legal Platform for the Defense of the Rights of Retired Military Personnel, which puts forward a scientific basis for calculating new salaries and wages grounded in proportionality and anchored in the Ranks and Salaries Scale Law, constitutes a logical solution for adjusting salaries and wages away from haphazard increases and unjustified discrimination among categories of civil servants and the services. Dividing the share of salaries and wages in the 2024 budget by the total gross salaries and wages under Ranks and Salaries Scale Law No. 46/2017 and its amendments makes it possible to obtain the percentage increase in salaries and wages while preserving the legal framework of the scale. The aforementioned proposal makes it possible not to exceed the appropriations available in the budget, on the one hand, while preserving rights according to the percentage obtained from the formula outlined above and ensuring fairness to the lower categories of civil servants and retirees, on the other. This demonstrates the desire of most military personnel, civil servants, and retirees for the adjustment to be equitable and fair, regardless of the value of the increase they receive. For adjusting salaries and wages on the basis of proper legal principles preserves acquired rights and contributes to achieving social stability following economic sufficiency. The caretaker government's continued floundering in adjusting the salaries and wages of public sector employees and retirees highlights its inability to address the financial and economic crisis afflicting Lebanon, which is entering its fifth consecutive year, and reveals the extent of officials' ignorance of what this adjustment represents as a mandatory entry point for any economic recovery plan. Worst of all is the way the government, and behind it the deep state, treats increasing salaries and wages as a free grant rather than a right received by civil servants and military personnel in return for their work, when it is the state's duty to secure a dignified life for them. In contrast to the government's floundering and inability, many private sector enterprises in Lebanon, particularly large and medium-sized ones, have managed to overcome the problem of the salaries and wages of their employees and workers. This stemmed from employers' realization that the productivity of an employee and worker depends on their feeling that what they earn is sufficient to meet their needs and live a dignified life. That led to the adoption of salaries that keep pace with fluctuations in the exchange rate of the national currency and consist of two parts, one in US dollars and the other in Lebanese pounds. This allowed these enterprises to preserve their productive and service capacities and their market share, and also to retain their employees and workers, or the greater part of them. Consequently, the government's persistence in ignoring the interconnection between restoring economic recovery and addressing the causes of the financial and economic crisis, and approving salaries and wages that secure a dignified life for military personnel, public sector employees, and retirees, puts addressing the crisis and its repercussions out of reach. The haphazardness practiced by the caretaker government in its approach to the various issues related to the desired solutions to the financial and economic crisis exacerbates the situation and prevents progress in addressing the deteriorating conditions.

Translated from Arabic with AI. Read it in Arabic