CO-CHAIRMAN of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) Keith Duncan is calling on the Government to review the 9 per cent wage-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio that was set in the fiscal rules 10 years ago with projections that the target which has been breached for the last few years will continue to be breached in the near future.

The call comes as the recent wage settlement will see the Government paying public sector workers $338 billion in the next fiscal year — a sum equivalent to 11.4 per cent of GDP.

“The GOJ, in [its] efforts to increase and rationalise compensation, will continue to breach the current wages and salaries fiscal rule for the foreseeable future,” Duncan said, in clear acknowledgement that even the Government’s own Fiscal Policy Paper 2023/24 shows that from the 2022/23 to the 2026/27 fiscal years, public sector wages and salaries will be equivalent to 11.2 per cent to 11.4 per cent of GDP.

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/duncan-calls-for-review-of-wage-to-gdp-target/