Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Iraq Gov't. Workers to Get April Salaries
From: spliffslips
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Iraq Gov't. Workers to Get April Salaries
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By HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press Writer
May 21, 2003, 2:31 PM EDT
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Some 1.4 million Iraqi government employees will collect their first salaries in two months this week, the man who launched the American civilian administration in Iraq said Wednesday.
Retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner told reporters that $45 million in April salaries would be paid starting Saturday.
Members of Iraq's disbanded armed forces and intelligence services will not be paid. Nor will employees who haven't worked since the capture of Baghdad by U.S. forces on April 9.
Employees will also get an emergency payment of $30 along with the $20 they received earlier this month.
All workers will be paid in Iraqi dinars, except for those in autonomous Kurdish areas, who will be paid in U.S. dollars. The payments will be made in cash.
Garner said government employees will get their May and June salaries by the end of June. The money, he said, came from Iraqi assets frozen abroad after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
"Salaries in the new Iraq will be determined by rank and merit, not by party status," said a press release issued by the U.S.-led Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. "The old system of allowances and bribes has gone."
David Nummy, senior U.S. Treasury Department representative in Iraq, said new salary scales are based on qualifications, merit and years of service. Most government employees will be collecting higher salaries than they did under Saddam's rule, he said.
"There are a few losers," Nummy said, citing former presidential employees.
Salaries will now range between 100,000 dinars and 500,000 a month -- or about $80-$400 by Wednesday's exchange rate. Schoolteachers who were making an average of 20,000 dinars will now receive 100,000, or about $80. Policemen will make 120,000 dinars on average, or about $100 -- twice what they previously made.
The dinar has been fluctuating wildly against the dollar, but since peaking at nearly 4,000 to the dollar during the fighting, it has been steadily gaining strength, standing at about 1,200 to the dollar on Wednesday.
Garner said the salaries and the additional emergency payment would be "a good boost to the economy" and said payments in Iraqi dinars are meant to support the national currency in a country where the dollar currently reigns.
Copyright (c) 2003, The Associated Press
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This article originally appeared at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-paychecks-at-last,0,544293.story
Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com
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Iraq Gov't. Workers to Get April Salaries
--------------------
By HAMZA HENDAWI
Associated Press Writer
May 21, 2003, 2:31 PM EDT
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Some 1.4 million Iraqi government employees will collect their first salaries in two months this week, the man who launched the American civilian administration in Iraq said Wednesday.
Retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner told reporters that $45 million in April salaries would be paid starting Saturday.
Members of Iraq's disbanded armed forces and intelligence services will not be paid. Nor will employees who haven't worked since the capture of Baghdad by U.S. forces on April 9.
Employees will also get an emergency payment of $30 along with the $20 they received earlier this month.
All workers will be paid in Iraqi dinars, except for those in autonomous Kurdish areas, who will be paid in U.S. dollars. The payments will be made in cash.
Garner said government employees will get their May and June salaries by the end of June. The money, he said, came from Iraqi assets frozen abroad after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
"Salaries in the new Iraq will be determined by rank and merit, not by party status," said a press release issued by the U.S.-led Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. "The old system of allowances and bribes has gone."
David Nummy, senior U.S. Treasury Department representative in Iraq, said new salary scales are based on qualifications, merit and years of service. Most government employees will be collecting higher salaries than they did under Saddam's rule, he said.
"There are a few losers," Nummy said, citing former presidential employees.
Salaries will now range between 100,000 dinars and 500,000 a month -- or about $80-$400 by Wednesday's exchange rate. Schoolteachers who were making an average of 20,000 dinars will now receive 100,000, or about $80. Policemen will make 120,000 dinars on average, or about $100 -- twice what they previously made.
The dinar has been fluctuating wildly against the dollar, but since peaking at nearly 4,000 to the dollar during the fighting, it has been steadily gaining strength, standing at about 1,200 to the dollar on Wednesday.
Garner said the salaries and the additional emergency payment would be "a good boost to the economy" and said payments in Iraqi dinars are meant to support the national currency in a country where the dollar currently reigns.
Copyright (c) 2003, The Associated Press
--------------------
This article originally appeared at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-paychecks-at-last,0,544293.story
Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com
