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Zimbabwe cabinet rejects proposal to cut salary for civil servants

Xinhua, September 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Zimbabwe's cabinet has rejected a proposal by finance minister to cut salaries and bonuses for civil servants as part of measures to contain a ballooning public sector wage bill gobbling 97 percent of state revenues.

Information Minister Christopher Mushowe said Wednesday the cabinet rejected the proposal in July and that Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa disregarded this when he announced the measures while presenting the mid-term budget speech in parliament last week.

Among other measures, Chinamasa proposed a reduction in salaries and allowances for civil servants, taxation of allowances, suspension of bonuses for two years and retrenchment of 25,000 civil servants as part of cost-cutting measures to revitalize the economy.

Chinamasa also proposed to cut the number of embassies and consulates, a reduction in foreign allowances and to review class travel arrangements for senior government officials including ministers and legislators.

"The President and cabinet want to assure the civil servants, farmers and the public at large that these proposed measures are not friendly operative," Mushowe said.

Mushohwe said it was expected that the clarification would put to rest anxieties that may have arisen within the civil service, farming community and public at large.

Chinamasa warned that government could soon fail to raise enough money to pay salaries to its workers if urgent measures are not put in place to arrest ballooning expenditure.

According to Chinamasa, the measures were expected to reduce employment costs to around 60 percent of total revenue by 2019 from the current 97 percent.

Zimbabwe's government is operating in a tight fiscal space marked by dwindling revenue inflows.

Economic growth forecast for 2016 has been cut to 1.2 percent from the initial 2.7 percent due to poor performance in agriculture, the mainstay of the economy. Endit