January 18, 2023

Egypt – Increase of the Minimum Salary for Private Sector Employee

Minimum Salary for 2023

The Egyptian National Council for Salaries (“Council“) chaired by the Minister of Planning and Economic Development has decided to increase the minimum salary for private sector employees from EGP 2,400 to EGP 2,700 per month starting from January 2023.

This decision came in light of the high inflation rate and currency devaluation in Egypt. It also came in line with the Prime Minister’s Decree No. 4017 of 2022 to increase the minimum salary for public employees to EGP 3,000.

Annual Salary Increment

The Council also announced that the annual salary increment for private sector employees shall not be less than 3% of the social insurance salary with a minimum of EGP 100.

Social Insurance Salary

In a related context, the Chairman of the Social Insurance Authority has officially announced that starting from January 1st, 2023, the minimum social insurance salary (upon which social insurance contributions are calculated) will be increased to EGP 1,700 (instead of EGP 1,400), and the maximum of said social insurance salary will be increased to EGP 10,900 (instead of EGP 9,400).

Application Guidelines

The Minister of Manpower issued on the 16th of January 2023 guidelines on the application of the minimum salary for private sector employees. The guidelines confirmed the following:

  • All entities and employers in the private sector shall comply with the minimum salary; with no exception for any entity or business/activity.
  • For the purposes of calculating the minimum salary; “salary” shall be given a broad meaning to include both the fixed salary and other variable salary elements including, for example, commissions, allowances, profit share, in-kind benefits…etc.
  • Non-compliant entities will be exposed to sanctions of a fine (ranges between EGP 100 to EGP 500) and the fine will be multiplied according to the number of employees against whom the violation was committed. In addition, legal proceeding can be taken against the violating entity to complete the salary payment to reach the minimum.
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