Housing allowances should be added to the pay scales of government employees, the Financial Affairs Committee of the Shoura Council has recommended. In doing so, the Shoura committee has fully endorsed the recommendation put forth by the housing committee in this regard, Dr. Mazen Balila, a member of the financial committee was quoted by Al-Madina Arabic newspaper as saying. The newspaper cited Dr. Balila as saying that there was a need to modify the pay scale of employees in the public sector by adding housing allowances to their wages as is the case with private sector employees and some government sectors like health care and education. As and when it is done, Dr. Balila warned of a period of “temporary inflation” as unscrupulous businessmen might increase the prices of some commodities and services as was done when King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, ordered an increase in the pay scales of government staff about four years ago. Dr. Balila called for specialist committees to look into the issue of housing allowances for government employees. Dr. Majed Hariri, another member of the Financial Committee, said he supported the proposal that “would help a large number of people, especially with price hikes.” He said if an accommodation allowance was approved, the ensuing inflation could be averted by government bodies building housing for their employees. Adding the allowance to the pay scale would also contribute to accelerating the disbursement of the government's real estate loans to applicants, he said.
