NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Another $43 million added to the budget for the Ministry of Public Service and National Insurance will see increased expenditure allocations for social benefit, increased cost of rent for its office building, and recently announced hiring programs and salary adjustments.
The ministry’s budget will see an increase from $263.2 million to $306 million in the upcoming period.
In the upcoming budget, the global provision for monthly employees will increase by $2 million, from $3.1 million to $5.1 million, while salary adjustments will see a $2 million forecasted allocation — up from zero during this fiscal period.
During his budget communication, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis noted that the government continues to have “unresolved salary adjustment matters” involving reclassified public servants or groups of public servants that have obtained approval for new career paths.
He said: “We have made provision to address many of these longstanding issues.”
In 2019/2020, the government allocated $3.3 million for monthly employees.
According to the budget, pensions to officials will also increase from $106.1 million to $116.1 million — a $10 million increase.
As announced by the prime minister on Wednesday, $1.5 million has been forecasted for the hiring of new college recruits into the public service.
“As our agencies are moving to new digitized environments and processes, we do require more young talent who are tech-savvy,” he said.
“Therefore, we are earmarking $1.5 million to enlist up to 75 new college recruits, aged 18 to 30, throughout the public service to provide us that critical infusion of new thinking and new ideas.
The budget for rent for the office will be increased from $25 million to $30 million.
The lease agreement with the National Insurance Board will also increase by nearly $8 million, from $16.5 million this fiscal period to $24.3 million in the upcoming period.
Additionally, insurance premiums for government personnel will see a $14 million increase — from $60 million in the current period to $74.3 million in 2021/2022.
The government anticipated spending the same amount in the following fiscal period, before estimated an increase to $76 million in 2023/2024.
In 2019/2020, the government spent just over $69 million on insurance premiums.
In the last fiscal period, more than 70 percent of government agencies faced cuts — some 42 out of 58 agencies — as the government sought to prioritize spending related to the COVID-19 response and Hurricane Dorian recovery, as well as deferring nonessential projects, which did not directly impact employment.
Loading ...
