CAIRO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi raised on Saturday the minimum wage of state employees to 2,000 Egyptian pounds (115.74 U.S. dollars) per month from 1,200 pounds, state Nile TV reported.

"The increase will be applied to all Egyptian workers," the president said in a ceremony for honoring Egyptian women and mothers.

The move came to ease the effects of austerity measures on Egyptians, the president said.

He added difficult time hasn't finished yet, but the conditions in Egypt are improving.

In late 2016, the Egyptian government started to liberalize the exchange rate of its local currency, the Egyptian pound, to contain shortage of dollars as an initial step of an economic reform program based on strict austerity measures, tax hikes and subsidy cuts.

Egypt's reform plan is encouraged by the International Monetary Fund, which offered the Arab country a 12-billion-dollar loan to support the reform, two thirds already delivered.