Government's wage bill - every year it represents a huge chunk of the national budget and over the past two years it went up by almost one fifth. That's a result of the wage increase given to teachers and public officers in successive years.
How much does it all cost? The prime minister and minister of finance gave an overview at Friday's house sitting:
Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister
"Our teachers and public servants, our police officers and soldiers - all 12,000 of them will benefit from an 8% salary increase and for most, 10.5% salary surge when the annual increments are taken into account. The value of this upward salary adjustment is estimated at an astonishing $43 million dollars for fiscal year 2015/2016. This $43 million is one and half times larger than the size of last year's salary increase and increment. In that fiscal year 2014/2015, teachers and public officer shared a bounty of $29 million dollars more in salaries and increments, representing at that time a 6% salary increase in addition to the 2.5% increment. So then in 2 fiscal years since a partnership was forged between Government and the unions, this UDP administration will deliver a cumulative 19% salary and increment increase for teachers and public officers. The equivalent of $72 million more in the collective pockets of public servants."
That 70 plus million now passes into government accounts as a recurrent expense meaning it has to be paid annually.
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