by STAFF WRITER
December 14, 2021
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, Dec 14, CMC –Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris Tuesday announced the payment of a double salary to civil servants before the end of the month.
Harris announced the package as he delivered his administration’s national budget to Parliament,
“Mr. Speaker, we do so for a number of reasons. But importantly, we are a compassionate government. We understand that even as we speak or we meet here, thousands of persons are still suffering, thousands of persons are still not fully engaged in our hotels and our restaurants.
“We appreciate that, and they need some help. We appreciate that although we have been unique in protecting the jobs of 10,000 people or the income, our civil servants, our GAE workers and our pensioners, protecting their flow by not laying off persons and many of our civil servants have now become the sole income earner in their families and extended families,” he told parliament.
Harris said that another reason behind his government’s decision to pay the extra-month salary is that it will generate much needed economic activity and help the country’s economy get back on track.
“We are hoping that by this generosity, by putting more monies into circulation, some EC$35 million plus in circulation, that we will see the impact of this new wave of aggregate demand in the restaurants, in the supermarkets leading to higher demand for labour and for putting our people at work,” said Harris, who is also the Finance Minister.
The government said that more than 3,000 workers under the Skills Training Empowerment Programme (STEP) are also expected to benefit from the payment of the double salary this month.
Prime Minister Harris has also urged the boards and management of the statutory bodies, where they have the means to do so, to pay a double salary or bonuses to their staff.
