Zimbabwe wage bill increases 10-fold in 10 years?

Zimbabwe’s wage bill has ballooned from $30 million a month to $300 million a month between 2009 and this year according to the Ministry of Information.

The Ministry said the government told workers today that it cannot afford to pay them in United States dollars because in 2009 the total wage bill was around $30m per month.

“Now it’s $300m per month. Monthly exports are around the same figure, making USD payment impossible,” it said.

Teachers have threatened to go on strike unless they are paid in US dollars.

Schools open tomorrow.

It is not clear how the wage bill has ballooned so much but Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube might have some explaining to do.

He announced last year that he would be doing a civil service audit through biometric registration of all government workers from this month.

The government has also laid off more than 3 000 youth officers.

At one time reports said the government had about 75 000 ghost workers.

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