Egypt will increase public sector salaries and pensions in an attempt to drive up support for the government amid ongoing protests demanding President Hosni Mubarak leave office.
Monday marked the 14th straight day of protests against Mubarak and Cairo's Tahrir Square remains the focal point of the ongoing demonstrations.
At the moment, observers say Tahrir Square has a camp-like atmosphere, with food, street vendors and entertainment inside its boundaries. At the edges of the square, protesters are lying down in front of army tanks to block them from entering the area.
Since the demonstrations began on Jan. 25, the protesters' actions have prompted Mubarak to declare that he will not run in Egypt's upcoming elections later this year. The 82-year-old Egyptian leader has also named a vice-president, shuffled his cabinet and his government has offered to investigate official corruption and election fraud.
On Monday, the Mubarak regime also said it would increase government salaries and pensions by 15 per cent, to help public sector employees deal with rising prices in the economy.
Finance Minister Samir Radwan said the government will spend 6.5 billion Egyptian pounds (US$960 million) to increase the public sector salaries and pensions.
But many protesters say they are holding out for Mubarak's formal resignation -- and the most determined members of the ongoing demonstrations want him to leave office now.
"Our main objective is for Mubarak to step down," said student Mohammed Eid.
"We don't accept any other concessions."
Engineer Salih Abdel-Aziz said that the protesters "don't trust" Mubarak to follow through on the promises that have been ushered in since the demonstrations began.
"As long as Mubarak is in charge then all of these are brittle decisions that can break at any moment," Abdel-Aziz said.
Another man said that the longer the protests go on, the more concessions the people are getting out of the government.
"It is like a wound, the more you press on it the more blood gushes out. We will press until we empty it," said Rami Ghoneim.
CTV Middle East Bureau Chief Martin Seemungal told CTV's Canada AM that a weekend meeting between Vice-President Omar Suleiman and various opposition groups was a sign that there is progress being made.
In the meeting, Suleiman offered to lift emergency laws that have been in place for 30 years when security permits him to do so. He also said the government would not hamper freedom of the press any longer and would refrain from interfering with the Internet or with text-messaging services.
Oppposition groups came away from the meeting saying that Suleiman had not offered anything new, though they said they would keep talking with the government.
Seemungal said some of the "real core radicals" in Tahrir Square have indicated they do not see eye-to-eye with the opposition leaders who spoke to the Egyptian vice president.
"They say those people who spoke to the government didn't represent them, so there's a slight split emerging with the opposition," Seemungal said.
In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday that Egypt is "making progress" in its attempts to quell public anger with the Mubarak regime.
Outside Tahrir Square, schools remained closed Monday because of a mid-year holiday and the stock market, which is due to reopen next weekend, was also shut down. But banks were open for limited hours and daily traffic was increasing to normal levels.
Time magazine correspondent Abigail Hauslohner said people were dressed in suits and lining up at ATMs in other parts of Cairo on Monday, as they tried to resume their daily routines.
"I think for a lot of people in Egypt, it's time to get back to work," Hauslohner told CTV News Channel from Cairo.
"People want life to return to normal because what has happened has been economically devastating for a lot of people."
With files from The Associated Press
