Syrian caretaker govt to hike public sector salaries by 400 pc

DAMASCUS: Syria’s finance minister said on Sunday the government would hike salaries for many public sector employees by 400 per cent next month after completing an administrative restructuring of ministries to boost efficiency and accountability.

The increase, estimated to cost 1.65 trillion Syrian pounds, or about $127 million at current rates, will be financed by existing state resources plus a combination of regional aid, new investments, and efforts to unfreeze Syrian assets held abroad.

“(This is) the first step towards an emergency solution to the economic reality in the country,” Mohammed Abazeed, the finance minister in Syria’s caretaker government, told Reuters, adding that this month’s wages for public sector staff would be paid out this week.

Last month, Turkey’s foreign minister on Saturday discussed with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken the need to act in cooperation with the new Syrian administration to ensure the completion of the transition period in an orderly manner.

Meanwhile, Turkey said on Sunday its armed forces “neutralised” 32 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in military operations in northern Syria.

The defence ministry also said its operations in northern Iraq “neutralized” four PKK members, using a term that usually means killed.

Since a rebellion in Syria last month ousted president Bashar Al-Assad, Turkey-backed Syrian forces have occasionally clashed in the north with U.S-backed Kurdish forces that Ankara also deems terrorists.