UAE hikes pensions of govt employees

DUBAI (Reuters): The United Arab Emirates is raising the minimum pensions of former military and federal government employees to $2,700 per month, effective this month, state news agency WAM reported last week.

President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan issued an order to raise “the minimum salary of pensioners at the UAE armed forces and the federal government to 10,000 dirhams ($2,700) monthly as of January 2012”, WAM said.

It did not state the reasons behind the move, the previous size of the pensions, or the number of pensioners benefitting.

The UAE, one of the world’s top five oil exporters, escaped political unrest which rocked much of the Middle East last year. But like other countries in the Arab Gulf, it has responded by boosting spending on social welfare to ease any popular discontent.

In November, the government said it was setting up a $2.7 billion fund to help pay low-income citizens’ debts and would raise the wages of some state employees. Earlier in the year, the government said it would invest $1.6 billion over three years to improve living conditions in the less developed northern emirates, and raise military pensions 70 percent.

UAE nationals are estimated to make up only around 20 percent of the country’s population, which according to 2009 government statistics stood at 5 million. Most of the rest of the population are foreign workers.  (1 = 3.6730 UAE dirhams)