ORE than half of Government’s $657.2-billion allocation for non-debt recurrent expenditure will go towards the compensation of public sector employees as the Administration forges ahead with its wage restructuring programme.

Finance and the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke, in opening the 2022/23 Budget Debate Tuesday, said compensation of employees accounts for $367.4 billion or 56 per cent of the non-debt recurrent expenditure.

“In this budget, we have $32.8 billion to meet the estimated second-year cost of the new compensation system; $6.5 billion to public sector health insurance; and $1.4 billion for the [Government’s] arrears to the National Housing Trust (NHT),” he said.

The 2023/3024 trillion-dollar budget also outlines capital expenditure of $65.4 billion, $280.6 billion for debt servicing, and below the line expenditure of $8.4 billion.

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/367b-for-salaries/