Categories: Stories

Chinamasa all out to eliminate ghost workers to contain wage bill

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who is all out to get a financial bail-out for the country by next year, says the government will keep its 2015 wage-bill below budget projections and has started by getting rid of ghost workers.

According to The Herald Chinamasa said this in a letter to the International Monetary Fund, the world’s banker, whose backing opens doors for funding from other international financial institutions.

Zimbabwe has promised to clear its arrears to the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank by the end of April next year.

Its arrears to the IMF is only $110 million while that to the World Bank is $1.15 billion and AfDB, $601 million.

The country’s wage bill consumers more than 80 percent of the budget.

Chinamasa says the government has agreed that this must be reduced to 40 percent within the next few years.

“We will keep the 2015 employment costs below budget projections. Cabinet is currently considering the report by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), containing proposals to streamline public sector employment. In line with the recently completed audit of the civil service, we have started to eliminate duplications and redundancies,” Chinamasa said.

He also said the government was working on improving its revenue collection to improve its capacity to service its debt and deliver better services.

(322 VIEWS)

This post was last modified on %s = human-readable time difference 12:51 pm

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

Recent Posts

Can the ZiG sustain its rally against the US dollar?

Zimbabwe’s battered currency, the Zimbabwe Gold, which was under attack until the central bank devalued…

November 10, 2024

Will Mnangagwa go against the trend in the region?

Plans by the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front to push President Emmerson Mnangagwa to…

October 22, 2024

The Zimbabwe government and not saboteurs sabotaging ZiG

The Zimbabwe government’s insatiable demand for money to satisfy its own needs, which has exceeded…

October 20, 2024

The Zimbabwe Gold will regain its value if the government does this…

Economist Eddie Cross says the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) will regain its value if the government…

October 16, 2024

Is Harare the least democratic province in Zimbabwe?

Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, which is a metropolitan province, is the least democratic province in the…

October 11, 2024

Zimbabweans against extension of presidential term in office

Nearly 80% of Zimbabweans are against the extension of the president’s term in office, according…

October 11, 2024