Figures issued by the Ministry of Finance show that the compensation of public-sector personnel totaled $5.45bn in 2017, constituting an increase of 12% from $4.9bn in 2016. Salaries, wages and related benefits accounted for 66% of the total in 2017, followed by retirement benefits (24.4%), transfers to public institutions to cover salaries (5.4%), and end-of-service indemnities (4.1%). The rise in the compensation of public-sector personnel is due to a 14.1% increase in salaries, wages & related benefits, as well as to a growth of 11% in retirement benefits and of 4.6% in end-of-service indemnities. The compensation of public-sector personnel represented the largest component of current primary spending and accounted for 66.2% of such expenditures last year compared to 65.8% in 2016. It absorbed 35.4% of fiscal spending in 2017 relative to 32.7% in the previous year. The compensation of public-sector personnel was equivalent to 9.9% of GDP in 2017 compared to 9% of GDP in 2016.

In parallel, salaries, wages & related benefits paid to public-sector employees amounted to $3.6bn in 2017, constituting an increase of 14.1% from $3.2bn in 2016, due to the new public-sector salary scale that was enacted by the Lebanese Parliament in July 2017. This category includes basic salaries, employment benefits, allowances, contributions to civil servants' cooperatives, as well as contributions to other mutual funds providing health insurance for specific categories of civil servants, mainly civil and religious judges, and employees at the Parliament.