Jordan hikes govt salaries in face of discontent

Jordan announced on Thursday a $283 million (211 million euro) plan to raise salaries of government staff as well as the pensions of retired government employees and servicemen in the face of popular discontent.

Nine days after a $169 million plan to improve living conditions, Prime Minister Samir Rifai announced the additional funding, which will provide a $28 a month raise that will benefit hundreds of thousands of citizens from this month.

The current minimum wage is $211 a month.

The new measures come a day before a demonstration organized by the Islamist opposition to demand economic and political reforms. They include $56.5 million to fix power prices and support agricultural and livestock projects.

"The government did not create the current economic problems," Rifai told MPs at a meeting to discussing soaring commodity prices. "They have accumulated thanks to an unprecedented budget deficit."

A $1.5 billion deficit, equivalent to 5% of gross domestic product, is expected on this year's $8.8 billion budget.

Poverty levels are running at 25% in the desert kingdom, whose capital Amman is the most expensive city in the Arab world, according to several independent studies.

Official unemployment is about 14% in the country of six million people, 70% of them under the age of 30. But other estimates put the jobless figure at 30 percent,

Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of the kingdom over the weekend to protest soaring prices and unemployment.