(NEWZIMBABWE) Biti freezes civil servants' pay
Biti freezes civil servants' payby Lebo Nkatazo
16/04/2010 00:00:00
THE unity government has put itself on a collision course with unions after Finance Minister Tendai Biti declared a civil service wage freeze on Friday. Biti said cash-strapped Zimbabwe’s $913 million civil service wage bill for 2010 was not “normal economics”.
“Given the lack of fiscal space, the government will maintain a cap on the current wage level whilst attending to other revenue enhancing measures,” Biti declared.
“Normal economics demand that only 30 percent of the budget be channelled to salaries as per the World Bank standards.
[What the heck are 'normal economics'? I'm sure he or the writer means Normative Economics. And how can he only apply it to the state but not the private sector and FDI? This is what you get when you have academic knowledge but no critical thinking skills. Complying with 'World Bank' standards is no substitute for economic analysis, or anything else. By the way, Tendai Biti is a human rights lawyer by training, not an economist. - MrK]
We are outperforming World Bank countries that have a much higher level of domestic product.
“The current large public sector wage bill has a demonstration impact on private sector sage levels leading to an overall contagious and unsustainable wage spiral out of line with the size of the economy.
[In other words, people earn too much money in Zimbabwe. Oh, that terrible 'wage inflation'. - MrK]
“In the case of some public enterprises and local authorities, high wage levels have left very little resources available for efficient and adequate delivery of core services in the areas of health, education, water and sanitation, power as well as maintenance of infrastructure.”
Biti warned of impending job cuts as soon as an audit into public sector workers is completed. The minister also wants all new recruitment for “noncritical” vacant posts immediately frozen.
[In other words, these neoliberal sellouts waste no time in going after labour. So where will they re-employed, minster Biti? - MrK]
Earlier on Thursday, Biti said Zimbabwe – coming out of a decade-long economic and political crisis following the formation of a power sharing government -- is likely to cut its 2010 economic growth forecast from 7.7 percent to 4.8 percent due to a failure to attract foreign donor support.
[No FDI - and I guess not other 'big ideas'. There are a lot of ways to sustainably grow the Zimbabwean economy.
1) Get economic sanctions lifted
2) Borrow to invest in productive, capital investments
*a infrastructure
*b agriculture
*c manufacturing
3) Pass legislation to protect small domestic producers and farmers - tariffs on domestically produced goods
4) Increase demand for goods by raising wages, not lowering them
5) Long term social investment - universal healthcare and education
Anyone who is against this does not want to see Zimbabwe develop for the benefit of the Zimbabwean people. - MrK]
Biti said donors had so far provided only $2.9 million to finance an $810 million budget deficit.
Teachers recently embarked on strike action but returned to work after the government refused to meet their demands for a 300 percent pay hike.
Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, ECONOMY, NEOLIBERALISM, TENDAI BITI
posted by MrK @ 3:31 AM
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