The government has welcomed the 2021 budget which emphasised a cut in the civil service wage bill a cabinet minister has said.

In an interview, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Professor Paul Mavima said sensible and patriotic Zimbabwean should accept the fact that the wage bill had been straining the Government cash flows.

Prof Mavima said the budget was focusing on development, a move which he said will see the civil servants getting below their expectations for about a year after which the Government will be able to meet their expectations.

“What we have is a developmental budget which allocates resources towards development and so as a ministry we are generally happy about the budget. Every Zimbabwean who is serious about the development of this country will understand that we need to reserve money for capital expenditure.

 

“Imagine a situation which existed previously whereby 93 percent of money collected as tax went to salaries. It actually meant we were paying people all that was being collected and only left with seven percent to fund development programmes.

 

So every understanding citizen will understand that because of the reduced fiscal space, they can take a reduced salary knowing that maybe after six months or a year down the line the economy will have improved,” he said.

 

Prof Ncube had to strike a delicate balance between maintaining a tight macro-economic policy, incentivising production and cushioning workers and vulnerable groups.

The government recently awarded civil servants a pay increase and vowed to keep reviewing the salaries until they get back to their 2018 US$ levels.