Feeling rebellious? Please accept a 35% rise in public-sector salaries

The United Arab Emirates is to give its public sector workers pay rises of 35 per cent or more to mark the Gulf nation’s 40th anniversary.

Its announcement follows similar moves by embattled Arab countries seeking to see off challenges to their ruling elites from increasingly discontent populations.

UAE president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan said yesterday that public sector workers would get the rises from January next year.

Some employees are set to see their basic pay doubled, according to details carried by state news agency.

Many of the UAE’s citizens depend on government jobs, which include generous pay packages and other benefits. The salary rises were among a number of measures decreed by the UAE’s president to coincide with National Day on Friday.

The president also ordered the establishment of a £1.7 billion fund designed to provide loan assistance to the low-paid, and broadened the definition of who is eligible for citizenship.

Citizens account for little more than 10 per cent of the UAE population, which is mainly made up of migrant workers with only a temporary right of residence.

According to the decrees, children of Emirati women married to foreigners may now apply for citizenship once they turn 18. Previously, only children with two Emirati parents or an Emirati father were granted citizenship.