CAIRO: The unpaid dues and pensions for 1,500 Egyptian laborers who fled Iraq following the 1990 Gulf War totaled $60 million, Manpower Minister Nahed al-Ashry said in statement Friday.
Ashry attributed the figures to the Central Bank of Egypt and the Iraqi Rafidain Bank, saying that the Iraq has released $2.2 million in unpaid dues to 171 people who worked in the private sector in three installments.
The Iraqi government, however, has not approved yet $49.3 million in dues to 1,044 public sector laborers. Other 274 cases are registered with the Ministry of Manpower but have not been studied yet.
A database of Egyptians who worked in Iraqi public sector companies has been handed to Iraqi officials, according to the Rafidain Bank in Cairo and the Iraqi embassy.
Iraq has delivered $408 million in remittances, known as “yellow remittances,” for 637,000 Egyptian workers who fled the country in the early 1990s. The money covers the period from May 1989 to June 1990, and the ministry will study the possibility of requesting an interest over the money due to the long delay, according to Ashry’s statement.
Ashri added that there are 3,672 checks issued by the ministry in compensation to Egyptians who fled Iraq.