South Africa to increase its National minimum wage to $260, which is N130k in Nigeria

The South African government has announced plans to increase its National minimum wage from $60 to $260, which is about N130,000 when converted to the Naira. According to Reuters, Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced this today after holding negotiations with some leaders of the labor unions. He however stated that the new minimum wage regime would take effect from May 2018.

"The balance we have sought to strike is that it must not be too low, so that it doesn't affect the lowest paid workers, but not too high that it leads to massive job losses" Ramaphosa told a news conference.

Ramaphosa said the national minimum wage, which equates to 20 rand ($1.50) per hour, would come into effect in May 2018.