I Can't Say Whether There Will Be Bonuses For Civil Servants Or Not - Mthuli Ncube

Minister of Finance And Economic Development Mthuli Ncube has said that he cannot promise that civil servants will receive their annual bonuses this year. The Minister said that the government was working on reducing the civil service wage bill and added that Treasury was going to cut the wage bill from $300 million per month to between $240 million per month and $250 million per month. Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Ncube said,

Government wages are about $300 million a month, so if we are reducing that from 70 to 50 percent (of expenditure), so we will save about $50 million to $60 million, which over time is what we would want to save on a monthly basis. This is the trajectory over the next three years…I can’t say whether (bonuses of civil servants) will be there or not, but it is an issue that we are looking at. We will consult with the President and other stakeholders, but in this Budget, we will show that we are serious about cutting expenditure.

The Minister also called for the people of Zimbabwe to be patient with him saying he has not had enough time to turnaround things yet. Said Ncube,