Good afternoon. News that the government plans to reduce the so-called 13th salary payment (a conventional, but not legally required, bonus payment of an extra month's salary paid in December) to public sector workers by two-thirds suggests that ministers want to avoid inflicting a last-minute disappointment on their workforce.
The full Daily Briefing continues below for Pro subscribers. Subscribers to the Zitamar News tier can read the top half, including the full leader article, here.
The latest from Zitamar News:
Judge refuses to stop Royal Group selling goods seized from ETG
A judge has refused to lift the controversial court order which allowed the conglomerate Royal Group to sell tens of millions of dollars’ worth of agricultural products which it seized from commodity trader ETG last year
![](https://www.zitamar.com/content/images/2024/07/image_2024-07-19_181458881.png)
Last year, amid a cash shortage, the government sought to cancel the salary bonus completely, but a backlash against this forced it to back down. In the end, half the bonus was paid, but it had to be done in two instalments due to lack of money.