Civil servants get lion’s share

SALARIES for civil servants are set to go up markedly after the Government allocated the biggest chunk of the 2023 National Budget towards the public sector wage bill to cushion workers from the negative impact of global and domestic economic shocks and price increases.

Presenting the $4,2 trillion National Budget for 2023 at the new Parliament Building in Mt Hampden yesterday, Finance and Economic Development Minister Ncube said the prevailing economic stability was expected to prevail with inflation and exchange rate expected to remain stable.

Minister Ncube, whose budget has been described as people centred, said the employment cost would account for 52,4 percent of the total expenditure for 2023, a marked increase from 42,3 percent this year.

With prices of goods and services expected to remain relatively stable, the value of civil servants’ incomes will likely not be in danger of getting eroded by inflation as monthly inflation rate is expected to be between 1 and 3 percent next year, Prof Ncube said.

He said nearly 50 percent of the public employment costs will go towards salaries and allowances of health and education workers to curb high staff turnover.

“The 2023 National Budget has a provision of $2,2 trillion for employment costs, inclusive of grant-aided institutions and pensioners, medical aid and pension contribution,” he said.

“This amount includes $659,4 billion and $336,5 billion for the salaries and allowances for education and health sectors, respectively,’’ he added.

Minister Ncube said the health sector was facing high staff turnover, with an overall vacancy rate of 13 percent more pronounced among the specialist doctors’ categories.

“The high turnover of health personnel is compromising the provision of health services in the public sector,” he said, adding the Government was addressing the challenge through monetary and non-monetary incentives to retain critical personnel.

There have been growing calls to improve the remuneration and incentives of civil servants, particularly from the health and education sectors, for them to live decent lives.

Mr Alex Nyamungudu, a teacher at a Harare school, described the move by the Government as a “nice gesture that deserves the appreciation” of the public workers.

are being changed to make sure that ministries, departments and agencies perform the due diligence before signing any deals and that the deals are only made with the honest businesses rather than those who set huge profits and over charge.

The Government is not opposed to the private sector, and in fact wants more doors open for further investment, and wants these businesses to be honest.

The Budget continues to ensure that additional money is available to Pfumvudza/Intwasa, and that programmes build up the finances for lending to youths, women, and micro, small-and medium enterprises.

The growth we are seeing in the economy is falling as the global economy hits turbulence, but Zimbabwe will be among the top nations in Africa and in our own Southern African region. Every economic sector in the economy is expected to see growth next year, with mining and agriculture leading the list, even though global mineral prices are falling marginally as are agricultural prices.

In other words the increases in output are greater than any falls in prices, so Zimbabwe still continues to win.

The budget for next year for the first time looks at the potential risks, both in finance and in physical damage, and how these can be minimised so that the economic growth is not derailed.

Among financial measures, the budget increases funding for early warning of cyclones and other climate disasters, so damage is more limited, and in ensuring that there is uncommitted cash to sort out damage control without having to cut back on other programmes.

Prof Ncube stressed that some changes in some services need to be priced more effectively. Zimbabwe needs to rapidly expand its electricity supply, and this will mean that the tariffs will need to creep up to cover the costs, especially when there are more higher cost sources in the mix.

Prof Ncube also warned that the independent power producers will need tariffs that cover their costs before most start building power stations.

A lot of licences have been issued but few stations started, largely because of viability. And one of the hidden subsidies in the tariffs is the low fees for ferrochrome smelting, sometimes that needs to end as other consumers should not be subsidising that business.