Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Axe to fall on Jamaica public service

KINGSTON, Jamaica, September 30, 2009 - Positions in the Bruce Golding Cabinet will be among those cut as the Jamaica government sends home workers, closes state agencies and merges others, in an attempt to slash a wage bill that the Prime Minister says can no longer be sustained.

Golding insisted that there was no choice but to trim the 117,000-member public service if the government was to remain viable and he said a special unit will to be set up in the Office of the Prime Minister to look at modernizing and restructuring the country's entire public service.

He made the announcements in a highly anticipated speech that was not delivered until minutes before one o'clock this morning, after the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament ended a marathon 13-hour session that began at 10 am yesterday.

Golding also said that agencies which collect fees for their services - like the Registrar General's Department and the Firearm Licensing Authority -will be forced to finance their own operations.

The Prime Minister's announcement comes a month and a half after he said his government was determined to avoid job cuts in the public sector.

Earlier this month, former minister without portfolio in the finance ministry Don Wehby revealed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which Jamaica has approached for US$1.2 billion in balance of payment support, had suggested that the public sector wage bill be cut.

Meantime, during yesterday's session of Parliament, Finance Minister Audley Shaw announced what he described as "a minimal tax package", with increases on Departure Tax, as well as the General Consumption Tax (GCT) on telephone calls and instruments, to fill the J$1.7 billion (US$19.3 million) budget gap.

Those taxes will come into effect from tomorrow

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