Economics
No More Cash to Give South African State Workers' Pay Increases
- Government departments must find funds in existing budgets
- Civil Servant wage bill grew 11.2% a year for the past decade
This article is for subscribers only.
After approving an inflation-busting pay increase for public servants, South Africa’s government failed to allocate additional funds to pay for it, instead ordering state departments to find the money within existing budgets.
The pay deal will cost an extra 30.2 billion rand ($2.1 billion) over a three-year time frame, the National Treasury said in its mid-term budget statement presented to lawmakers on Wednesday. The public-sector wage bill already accounts for 35 percent of government expenditure.