THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has welcomed the public service wage and recruitment freeze in 2014 and 2015 as this will help to contain inflationary pressures in the country.
BoZ governor Michael Gondwe said the risks to inflation in 2014 may include the continued sluggish growth of the global economy which may reduce demand and consequently the price of copper.
Dr Gondwe said this on Monday when he appeared before the expanded parliamentary committee on estimates to make comments on the 2014 national budget.
“The inflationary pressures would also result in a reduction in foreign exchange earnings and consequently lead to a depreciation of the exchange rate.
“Therefore, the measure that the Government has undertaken to come up with a public service wage free and the civil service recruitment freeze is welcome as this will assist in addressing inflationary pressures,” he said.
Dr Gondwe said he is also happy that the budget has focused on key growth sectors of the economy.
He said the key sectors which include agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, energy and construction will help to consolidate economic growth, accelerate job creation and promote social justice for all Zambians.
Dr Gondwe said it is also gratifying to note that in the 2014 budget, domestic borrowing will be limited to about 2.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
He said this will enable the government to raise about K3, 501.8 million from the domestic market in 2014 with foreign financing estimated at about K7, 015 million. Dr Gondwe also said Zambia’s total public debt of the GDP is well within the 60 percent threshold which is considered sustainable by international standards.
So civil servants can also freeze and reduce their labour in 2014 to 2015 counter react the global inflation?
Isn’t that too late bwana Governor – hasn’t that thing been reversed already, or yours is the correct, unpoliticised current position? Tell us. Is there going to be freezing or not, with all those fears you have? But, come to think of it; calling on freeze on other people, while you don’t freeze yours, is SIN!
I find it disgusting for this Gondwe man to make such a statement. How much does he get as BOZ Governor, he gets well over K250,000.00 per month and then a civil servant is only getting less than K8,000.00 per month and then he thinks wage freeze is good to him. We shall not eat your macro economics Mr Gondwe, what we need is money to sustain our lives. Perhaps its high time you also thought of cutting down on your salary to cushion the inflation you are talking about. Foolish and selfish individuals. Kamo nga ni bena, awe sure. May be we should also freeze our labour for two years.
it waz a very wrong move by the government to frez the wages and recrutment in government.
Bankers from BOZ get a lot of money that is why there are in support of the wage freeze. There very selfish
The fertiliser that the Ministry of Finance procured from Saudi Arabia has arrived in Dar-lesalaam, Tanzania but as of today only 6000 metric tonnes has been ferried by Tanzania Zambia Railways (TAZARA) to a depot in Serenje in Central province.
The fertliser is then distributed to Muchinga, Luapula and Northern Provinces. These provinces are not major producers of Maize. The major producers are Eastern, Southern and Central provinces.TAZARA can only ferry 6000 metric tonnes per month. From the 50,000 metric tonnes ordered by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) 25,000 metric tonnes were delivered earlier the remaining arrived in Tanzania last week.From the first 25,000 only 6000, has been ferried to Serenje meaning that 19,000 metric tonnes is still remaing from the first batch.
At 6000 metric tonnes per month, this mean that Tazara has another three months to finish ferrying the first batch. This mean that TAZARA will finish transporting the first 25,000 metric tonnes in January 2014.The Ship carrying the second batch of 25,000 metric tonnes can not offload because there is no space as other players in the sector like Nyiombo and Zambian fertiliser have also stock there. This means that owners of the Ship will surcharge Zambia for the delay.As all this mess is happening,the Zambian government has directed TAZARA to only transport fertiliser to Zambia in order to try to speed up the process. Meanwhile TAZARA has already other existing contractual obligations with other institutions.
TAZARA has basically been told to willfully breach contracts.
As if directing TAZARA to stop ferrying any other goods is not enough, the Zambian government is paying TAZARA 20 % less normal rates for ferrying fertiliser.
This has annoyed the Tanzanian government as you may know that TAZARA is owned by the Zambian and Tanzanian governments on 50-50 shareholding.
To reciprocate, the Tanzanian government has also directed TAZARA to be ferrying Maize from Mbeya to Dar-lesalaam on the way back from Zambia also at 20% less.
President Sata is aware of all this as he has been briefed by the Intelligence network. He has even sp[oken to Sichinga about it but he has done nothing. Bob Sichinga and President Sata discussed this a day before the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) Annual Congress.Sata was worried that some farmers would raise the issue but o
Workers had 3 times wage increase equivalent to 3 years. Let us just work hard and wage free wont be felt.
The countrys poor economical performance is a result of bad policies and lack of political will to do things right. The civil servants are victims of political incompetency and every one seems to think they deserve less pay.
I believe the whole wage & service freeze is simply meant to show the IMF and other international financial organisations that GRZ is committed to not overspend, there was growing concern that GRZ is not financially disciplined, it is also meant to psychologically prepare the civil servants that there will be no wage increase in the next two years. I cant even see the fuss because realistically speaking, learning institutions are being upgraded to universities(more lecturers), schools are being built ( more teachers), talks of upgrading hospitals ( more nurses and doctors required), there is NO WAY the service freeze will be effected, this was merely a game of mind.
Gondwe and his minions are hypocrites. He should also institute a wage freeze at BOZ if he is support such measures. BOZ Directors earn K 80,000 per month and the Bank Governor earns more K 180,000 per month and he is busy supporting what will not affect his belly.