Economic Minister, Fayyaz Ismail has said that the minimum wage in the country will be announced in the week ahead.

The Employment Act was amended by the Parliament to set the minimum wage and put it in effect before the end of this year.

According to the amendment to the Employment Act, the Economic Ministry is required to form a Minimum Wage Advisory Board to set the minimum wage.

Speaking at the ceremony to award certificate to those who passed the technical examinations today, the Economic Minister said that based on the percentage, unemployment is not a big issue but the complaint is the low salaries.

Minister Fayyaz said that the hope is to announce the minimum wage in the coming week.

"There will be some disagreements but introducing it (minimum wage) is some progress." The Economic Minister said.

He said that the entire world is in a difficult situation at the moment but the government will not hesitate and move forward with the minimum wage.

The Economic Minister said that minimum wage also serves as part of eliminating challenges facing the workforce, establishing a modern human resource development in the country.

He said that as the efforts of minimum wage are underway, a bill on Occupational Safety and a Health and Safety bill is also in the works to be presented to the Parliament this year to protect more rights of employees along with a trade union bill.