It must be nice to be a Qatari bureaucrat. The country’s government recently gave salary and pensions raises of between 50 and 120 per cent to public sector workers – something other employers are wholly reluctant to hand out these days.
But the move shows how even stable Gulf governments, circa the Arab spring, are finding it harder than ever to move away from a culture of patronage towards economic diversification.
Saudi Arabia led the spending binge with pledges of $120bn and the promised creation of new government jobs after unrest swept north Africa. Money was then pledged by the Gulf Cooperation Council for Oman and Bahrain following unrest there. Qatar now will lift military salaries and pensions depending on rank, with 60 per cent raises for other public employees.
No comments:
Post a Comment