PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC – The Suriname authorities says that for the primary time within the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Neighborhood (CARICOM), the variety of civil servants employed will probably be diminished by greater than 2,000.
Finance and Planning Minister Stanley Raghoebarsing’s announcement comes at the same time as President Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi mentioned that negotiations for wage will increase with commerce union representatives will probably be held quickly.
Santokhi mentioned that, given the nation’s sacrifices through the years, it’s ‘time to provide again.’
Final yr, civil servants acquired a 20 p.c wage enhance, and SRD3,500 (One SRD=US$0.02 cents) will probably be added to the gross wage from this month.
Raghoebarsing, talking at a information convention, praised the civil servants for his or her dedication to taking part within the authorities’s socio-economic packages, which might have improved the present scenario.
He mentioned that though civil servants have decreased from 49,000 to 46,500 because the authorities got here into workplace, the wage invoice has doubled from roughly SRD600 million per yr to roughly SRD1.2 billion.
The federal government has been ushered within the reform of the general public sector for a number of years, and the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF) has repeatedly urged the federal government to make sure the coverage is carried out.
Raghoebarsing advised reporters that along with the excessive wage invoice, the federal government spent appreciable quantities on subsidies, of which greater than three quarters (SRD 3.9 billion) ended up within the healthcare sector by way of state-owned corporations.
He mentioned an settlement had been made with the Ministry of Well being to take a position a further SRD 350 million in well being care this yr, and subsidies and different contributions to state-owned corporations amounted to greater than SRD5.9 billion final yr.
Raghoebarsing advised reporters that the federal government’s debt place has improved structurally and that Suriname is doing higher than the IMF predicted.
He mentioned the nationwide debt is now at a sustainable stage however warned that extra work stays.
“Issues are going nicely, however we’re not there but,” he mentioned, including {that a} important achievement of the Santokhi authorities is the discount of inflation from 65 p.c in 2023 to 9.7 p.c in December final yr.
