Gov't struggling to pay its bills
published: Friday | November 28, 2003

By Andrew Green, Staff Reporter

A DESPERATE scramble for cash is now under way in the public sector.
To maintain its credibility in financial markets, the government has to strive especially hard to attain its financial targets for this budget year, says

Jamaica Money Market Brokers research analyst Jason Moore. With projected revenues running behind expectation, something has to give.
"The government doesn't have the cash flow to do all the things it wants," Mr. Moore said. "Efficiency is being forced on the public services."
Back in May, the Ministry of Finance and the Auditor-General's Department proposed a study to determine why the government agencies were so short of cash because of the massive debts they were racking up. For several institutions, the situation has deteriorated.
The Ministry of Health says it needs $11 billion annually to carry out its operations, said Audley Shaw, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). But it only got $9.2 billion, leading to a shortfall by $1.8 billion. Already starting with a $3 billion debt, it is likely to end the year with a $3 billion shortfall.

Owes $526 Million To The Police
The National Works Agency owes $1 billion to contractors while the Ministry of National Security owes $526 million to the police, military and correctional services. The Ministry of Education was also late in supplying foodstuffs to schools for the school feeding programme. The big problem for the government is that wages and salaries, along with interest payments are running higher than projected, Mr. Morris said.


On The Net: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...business1.html

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When the civil service was granted a 85% increase

before the elections (2 years ago) they was hardly a word spoken against it. If the trade unions had the interest of the

workers at heart they would have declined the increase. Now 2 years later, they are feeling virtual reality. They have a big

increase they dreamed about....but no money to show for it.

The union bosses have stated that they would agree to a

wage freeze. Waste of time, demand a wage cut back. Its a trade off between a rubber cheque and an actual cheque at the end

of the month. This increase in pay will not produce any significant increase in productivity.

Call the government

corrupt for granting an insane increase,yes, but call yourself corrupt also for accepting it(the increase).

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One World, One People

The opinions expressed by Samba are not the official opinions of ETJ or its owners.

Took this long to realize this would happen?. The wage still needs to have part linked to performance as many workers have gotten accustomed to doing simple, routine jobs poorly.

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One World, One People

The opinions expressed by Samba are not the official opinions of ETJ or its owners.

I strongly beleive that the GOV'T should try and improve or market the public sector, for example improve agriculture for own consumption as well as for exporting, pump money into tourism so more hotels, villas and resorts can be built, provide tax incentives to small private businesses, improve road conditions, charge less for taxes and collect more often, subsidise fuel, food & water.

If they decide to do this now they must prepare to lose but rebound within 3-5 years. So they should put in place a financial cushion just like any business would today. During those 5 years production will increase providing colateral right after.

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