KARACHI – Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig former SVP FPCCI & Secretary Information United Business Group (UBG) Pakistan, discussed minimum wages Rs. 25,000 announced in Sindh Budget and explained that the increase from Rs. 17,500 to Rs. 25,000 per month is 43% which is unbearable and industries shown their concern.
Federal Govt. increased minimum wages to Rs. 20,000, Govt. of Punjab Rs. 20,000 & Govt. of KPK Rs. 21,000. He said that this disparity will make industries in Sindh uncompetitive and may result in closure or transfer of industries to other provinces causing unemployment in Sindh. Dr. Baig presented analysis of labour cost in Bangladesh USD 130/ month, Punjab Pakistan Rs. 20,000 (USD 214) and Sindh Pakistan Rs. 25,000 (USD 266), in addition to contribution to EOBI & SASSI.
Minister for Labour Saeed Ghani assured Dr. Ikhtiar Baig that the Sindh Govt. will find some amicable solution to this matter. Present in the meeting were; S.M.Muneer, Zubair Tufail, Zafar Bakhtawari, Khalid Tawab, Sami Khan, Ishtiaq Baig, Umer Rehan, Saleem-uz-Zaman Yasin Malik, Gulzar Firoz, Shakil Dhingra, Tariq Haleem & other business leaders.
