State officials on Monday pleaded with MPs to quickly pass a bill approving a 1.5 per cent general increase in the salaries of public-sector workers, but some lawmakers pushed back.

The 1.5 per cent salary raise was granted back in July following a deal between the government and trade unions.

However the wage increase must also be enacted into law, with the government having tabled the relevant bill to parliament. It had been agreed that the pay rise would kick in as of October.

Officials with the finance ministry told MPs the fiscal footprint of the proposed pay rise will come to €52.7 million for the years 2024 and 2025.

Cleopatra Charalambous, representing the finance ministry, said this was the first general increase since 2009. It applies to salaries and pensions alike. The beneficiaries are all public-sector workers, whether full-time or part-time employees.

The increase also applies to judges and to the attorney-general. It does not apply to the president, ministers, MPs, mayors and other officials.

Charalambous urged lawmakers to vote on the government bill as soon as possible, by October 10 the latest, so that the 1.5 per cent increase can be incorporated into the October salaries, as under the agreement between the government and trade unions.

Panicos Constantinou, another finance ministry official, said the 1.5 per cent rise alone would not derail the fiscal situation. But more generally, he recalled that the government has asked the International Monetary Fund to furnish a study on how the public payroll can be rationalised in the long term.

The government expects to take delivery of this study soon, he added. The official did express concern at the rate of growth of the public-sector wage bill.

MPs also grilled officials as to why the 1.5 per cent rise also applies to pensions, since clearly pensions are unrelated to productivity. The answer they got was that the relevant legislation stipulates that general increases apply to both salaries and pensions.

Trade union reps meanwhile welcomed the coming pay hikes, noting the rising cost of living in Cyprus.

But opposition Disy said they would not vote for the government bill before them, even though that would go against “pressure from society”.

Disy MP Onoufrios Koulla pointed out that the public payroll is growing by nearly €500 million a year. Untargeted pay rises are not advisable, he said.

For their part, the Greens said they had “serious reservations” about the bill, but for a different reason – it did not go far enough in helping public-sector employees on the lower pay scales.

A ‘general increase’ is a fixed percentage increase that applies to all employees in the government and broader public sector. The last such general increase was given 15 years ago.

But independently of this, public-sector workers also receive automatic annual pay increments, where the percentage increase depends on a person’s pay scale. They also receive Cost of Living Allowance.