via ‘Wage bill not a simple thing’ – NewsDay Zimbabwe December 3, 2014
FINANCE minister Patrick Chinamasa has said the high civil service wage bill is a complicated issue which needs time to resolve.
Chinamasa told delegates at a breakfast meeting held recently that although the government was collecting significant revenue, there were challenges as to where the money was being channelled to.
“82% of our budget is going towards wages We are paying people to sit because there is no money for capital. Wage bill is not a simple thing. The bulk of our workers are teachers and nurses. I will not want to scale down support to education and health,” he said.
Chinamasa said the country’s biggest asset was its people, so there was need to deepen the skills base and implement the recommendations of the Nziramasanga commission of inquiry.
The commission recommended a shift from academic to basic skills. The country’s curriculum is more academically biased as compared to skills training.
“I will not support ideas to give less support to education and health. Let’s look and see how we can address the situation. If we manage to scale down from 82% to about 40%-50%, we would have moved mountains,” he said.
Since the country adopted the multi-currency system in 2009, the bulk of its budget has been channelled towards the wage bill.
Employment cost as a percentage to total expenditure rose from 47% in 2014 to over 75% in 2014 against an international benchmark of 30%.
The 2015 National Budget is $4,1 billion and $3,32 billion, which represents 81% of total expenditures, will be on account of employment costs, while the balance $798 million will be for operations, debt service and capital developments.
The revenue base for the country remains limited and hence need to be expanded. The International Monetary Fund has recommended that the government reduces its wage bill.
The government will be addressing the issues of the wage bill as part of the Staff Monitored Programme that the government is implementing.
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