Martyrs’ families granted highest pension rates in Egypt to honour their sacrifices

LE 50,000 for heirs of martyrs in absence of eligible pension beneficiaries

Soon final steps in processing 65 pensions to martyrs’ families of LE 1,500 monthly

New general budget bill to be presented to the Armed Forces Higher Council by end of March

Finance Minister, Dr. Samir Radwan, has delivered social security checks to ten of the 25 January Revolution martyrs’ families in compliance with the Prime Minister’s decree to grant martyrs families an exceptional pension of LE 1,500 monthly; their heirs are granted LE 50,000 lump-sum when there are no eligible beneficiaries. The amount is to be distributed equally according to the provisions of the Social Security Law. This pension can be cashed together with any other pension or income with no limits. In the absence of pension beneficiaries, the legal heirs are granted LE 50,000.

This exceptional pension for the martyrs’ families, Dr. Radwan says, is of the highest rates in Egypt exceeding the ceiling of standard pensions. It is a gesture to honour the Revolution martyrs families for their sacrifices to their country. The minister, speaking on behalf of the Egyptian government, extended his condolences to the martyrs’ families.

Twenty two citizens have so far received such checks; they will regularly cash their due social insurance sums from the Social Insurance Fund of the public and private sectors, or from bureaus of the fund depending on their place of residence.

These pensions will also benefit from the special bonus of 15% which will be payable starting this April, the Minister added.

The first batch of beneficiary families includes families of the following martyrs: Mohamed Salah Sadeq Mohamed, Mohamed Shehatah Abdel Al, Mohamed Farid Mahmoud, Magdi Mohamed Hassan, Khalid Mohamed Al-Sayyed, Mahmoud Ramadan Nazeer, Kamal Fares Mohamed, Ehab Mohamed Ahmed, Mahmoud Merghani Mohamed, And Ahmed Maree Imam. They are residents of Matariya, Nasr City, Boulaq, Imbaba - in both Giza and Cairo governorates.

Dr. Radwan reveals that so far the Ministry has received 334 applications, of which 65 have all the required documents and certificates and will receive their checks within days. The ministry will continue to receive and study all applications from martyrs’ families for this pension according to the relevant eligibility regulations issued by the Attorney General.

The regulations set the rules of issuing certificates of martyrs of the 25 January Revolution, as it is not possible to determine the exact number of the persons killed or injured in the events. The regulations will facilitate the procedure of delivering the exceptional pensions under Prime Minister Decree 33 of 2011.

An official Ministry of Finance source said the regulations require that only the eligible persons apply to the Attorney General Office for obtaining a death certificate proving death resulting from events of the demonstrations, which can be ascertained only through the running investigations conducted by the Prosecution, which uses a certain form approved by the Attorney General. The General Administration of Exceptional Pensions (Address: 3 Alfi Street, Cairo) will not accept any other forms. Also required is the legal inheritance form, which carries the name of the beneficiaries. The Administration has taken a number of exceptional measures to reduce the time of processing the required documents.

The regulations also stipulate that the certificate be written by the investigation secretary; prosecution offices are now being notified of these requirements. The investigation file will carry notification that the applicant has received the relevant certificate after verifying identity and capacity of the applicant who then signs acknowledgment of receipt of the certificate. Every prosecution office will create a record of the data concerning certificates and the persons who received them for reference.

On the other hand, Dr. Radwan emphasised the necessity of immediate return to normalcy in all sites of production to restore stability for the Egyptian economy which has suffered great losses as a result of labour strikes. Some factories have stopped working altogether; Egyptian exports shrank by around 40%, in addition to a loss of around 4 billion dollars monthly in the tourist sector - one billion of which in direct losses and three indirectly.

The Ministry of Finance has already prepared the new general budget bill for the fiscal year 2011/2012 to be presented to the Armed Forces Higher Council by the end of March. The new budget will record an expected deficit of 9.1% of the GDP. The total deficit of the current budget was expected before 25^th Jan to be 7.5%, but is currently expected to record 8.5%

(Source: Ministry of Finance)