Following last week’s pay rise for construction workers in the UAE federal government employees, including civilians and security personnel of the Interior Ministry, will get a 70-percent salary hike from January 2008.
The salary increase was ordered by vice president of the UAE and Dubai Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in line with the directives of President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a meeting which took place at the Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the federation.
With the price of oil reaching new heights almost every day, the seven-emirate federation has seen its coffers fill to the brim.
The newly approved federal 2008 budget of $9.5 billion, an increase of almost 20% over the 2007 budget, represents the highest increase in the history of the UAE Federation.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last month that inflation in the UAE, where housing costs have surged, is estimated to drop from 9.3% in 2006 to 8% in 2007 and 6.4% the next year, following an anticipated increase in housing supply. The IMF also forecast that the UAE economy would grow by 7.7% in 2007 and 6.6% in 2008.