Decree gives Egypt's next president salary hike

Egypt's interim president has decreed that his successor will get a monthly salary of $2,957 (21,000 Egyptian pounds) and a similar sum in a monthly allowance for entertainment.

The decree by Adly Mansour comes less than two weeks before presidential elections in which former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who ousted the elected president and installed Mansour in his place last July, is widely expected to win.

The Sunday decree amends a 1987 law that put the president's monthly salary at 12,000 pounds and gave him a similar amount as an annual, not a monthly, allowance.

The raise, while massive, could hardly match the dramatic rise in the cost of living over the past 25 years.

Mansour does not receive a president's salary, collecting instead his salary as a career judge.