NASSAU — Deputy Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest yesterday said the government has no intention to downsize the public sector in response to concerns levelled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The Tribune reported on May 15 in an article written by Khrisna Russell.
However, he did not rule out the possibility of a downsizing exercise as he underscored the Minnis administration has a priority to contain an increase in the overall wage bill.
The IMF has called for the Minnis administration to trim the civil service wage bill to fill the $240m gap needed to meet its Fiscal Responsibility targets.
Asked if terminations could be expected, Mr Turnquest told reporters outside of Cabinet: “No. Certainly not as a result of anything the IMF would have said. We are doing our own internal reviews and trying to rationalise for ourselves where we see people and service levels that we need. We do not have an intentional plan to downsize but rather note the concerns and acknowledge that we have to contain the growth in the wage bill overall.”
The East Grand Bahama MP further suggested the government has always been aware of the unsustainable public sector work force number.
“This is something that we’ve known since we came to office,” Turnquest said. “We’ve consistently been saying the last administration bumped up the public service to unsustainable levels. We have been trying to rationalise the new hires and those on contracts. Those that we can move off of the public payroll in a way that gives those persons involved a safe landing, we are trying to do that.”
