For this first May 1st after the salary increase, what else can civil servants ask the government ?
After having promised the revaluation of wages for the end 2022, the government has effectively walked the talk. So, guaranteed interprofessional minimum wage (Chin) went to 52.000 francs, i.e. an increase of 10.000 French. The other salary brackets have also seen significant increases., in accordance with the promises made by the Head of State. When we know that the remuneration of their work remains the main demand of state workers, we can conclude that the main concerns have been satisfied and that there is therefore in principle nothing more to claim.
This is all the more so now that the purchasing power of beneficiaries has increased compared to that of workers in the private sector., the government having left the initiative for the increase to each company. And in fact, in most private companies, employees continue to wait for a hypothetical improvement in their salary conditions.
Civil servants are only about 1% of the population but an improvement, even slight, of their income has an appreciable economic impact. Tradespeople, builders and other service providers benefit in the same way as state workers, especially since the money obtained is spent there.
But that being, wage increases have not bent the inflation curve. On the contrary. Prices continued to soar to the point of annihilating the revaluation. If this situation is partly explained by hazards outside Benin, the fact remains that the publicity surrounding what some have called the “magnanimity” of the state has had the effect of causing an all-out increase in prices on the markets.
So, it seems obvious that raising the salaries of state employees is not a miracle solution to the crisis that households are currently experiencing in Benin. New initiatives are needed to lower the price curve. Among these, the reduction in the importation of basic necessities that can be produced locally and the incentive to produce more.
Damien TOLOMISSI