Al-Maliki vows to pay salaries’ variables early next year

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Tuesday that the government will pay the employees’ salaries variables as of early next year, noting that all rumors about not paying the variables are not true. In his word during a meeting of State of Law Alliance gathering (Dawlat al-Qanoon) in Karbala which will compete in the next provincial council elections, the premier said “we faced some obstacles, mainly the financial crisis; however it will not affect Iraq. I assure all employees that we will pay the salaries’ variables on January 1, 2009.” The Iraqi minister of finance, Baqir Jabr al-Zubeidi, had announced recently that the variables will be paid next year. Al-Maliki had arrived in Karbala earlier in the day to deliver a speech on the general situation Iraq. SH (P)/SR 1