The government is preparing to introduce a constitutional draft bill to raise the salaries of private sector employees.

Accordingly, the Cabinet has approved a proposal put forward by Labour Minister S.B. Navinna.

The government says this draft bill would include provisions for making the minimum monthly salaries of all private sector employees as Rs. 10,000 and from 01 May 2015 this would be made their basic salary.

Meanwhile, as the first phase towards increasing the salaries of private sector employees by Rs. 2,500 their current salaries would be increased by Rs. 1,500 with effect from 01 May 2015 and under the second phase an additional Rs. 1,000 would be added to their salaries of 01 to 31 December 2015, says the government.