Government spends approximately $1.2 billion annually on about 42,000 publicly-funded employees, says Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad.
While delivering the 2024-2025 Budget, he mentioned that the State will collaborate with the Australian Government to undertake a comprehensive review of the civil service establishment and salary structure across public entities.
Prof Prasad emphasized the urgent need to bring parity in the salaries of publicly funded employees and appropriately size the establishment.
He attributed the significant increase in civil servants to the so-called civil service reforms and the 2013 constitutional provisions, which shifted central oversight and establishment control of the civil service from the Public Service Commission to respective Permanent Secretaries.
“Today we have more than 42,000 publicly funded employees, including around 38,000 in the civil service and almost 4,000 in independent institutions and state-funded entities. This comes at a huge cost of around $1.2 billion,” the Deputy Prime Minister stated.