‘Zim will save more if civil service burden is reduced’

Source: ‘Zim will save more if civil service burden is reduced’ | The Herald June 29, 2016

Livingstone Marufu : Business Correspondent

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Dr John Mangudya says Zimbabwe will save more than $400 million annually if the civil service sector burden is reduced. This comes as Government has already started reducing the civil service wage bill by removing all ghost workers in its departments, with some working outside the country in Australia and South Africa still receiving money and others who left the public sector for the private sector receiving double salary.According to the latest audit report it is estimated that Government employs more than 500 000 people.

In response to that Government had already abolished 22 000 posts deemed excess to requirements.

“We need to deal with the current practice of using 80 percent of the national budget on civil service salaries, a practice which our country cannot sustain given the current challenges. It puts too much pressure on the system.”

Dr Mangudya said the cash crisis was a symptom of two challenges which include a narrow fiscal space and trade deficit of which the RBZ is providing short, medium and long term solutions to ease the shortages.

The central bank is putting plugs and inventing new measures to deal with the cash crisis that has stalked the country since last year.

Dr Mangudya said the central bank is working on the use of plastic money and encouraging Zimbabwe to be a cashless economy.

He said this naturally eases the demand on the physical US dollars while on the other hand people can continue with their day to day business without physically handling cash.

Meanwhile cash transactions declined 12,1 percent in April to $703,3 million from $800,4 million in March.

The transactions processed through the Real Time Gross Settlement system increased 3 percent.

This was in response to the cash shortages which have seen a shift to electronic payment systems.

The RBZ monthly report for April, however, shows that the value of transactions processed through the national payment systems declined 1,2 percent to $6,15

billion in April from $6,23 billion the previous month as the economy continues to slow.

Transactions processed through RTGS increased 3 percent to $3,56 billion from $3,46 billion the previous month.

Correspondingly, the volume of transactions increased by 6 percent to 161 725 from 152 465.

The total value of mobile and internet based transactions declined by 11,5 percent, to close at $595,6 million in April from $673,1 million in March as mobile wallets operate on cash interface.