Govt says freeze on recruitment has lowered wage bill to 65 percent of revenue

The government has said that its decision to freeze recruiting workers in the public sector has resulted in  monthly savings of $10 million from the wage bill, which now stands at 65 percent of revenue.

Finance secretary, Willard Manungo told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance on Monday:

The bid taken by government to try and contain recurrent expenditure, especially those to do with the wage bill is that we are now saving $10 million per month in terms of how much we are spending on employment costs.

However, the revenues have not responded positively and there is still a mismatch between expenditure and revenue realisation, and the biggest challenge remains the issue of employment costs where we continue to spend 65 percent of the budget just on wages.

More: Financial Gazette