Govt is borrowing money this year to pay for operating expenditure which includes civil servants’ pay

Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says they are borrowing more this year to pay for operating expenditure because the government has less revenue and the economy has contracted.

Operating expenditure includes civil servants’ pay.

While speaking during the Virtual Public Budget Consultation from Singapore, Sayed-Khaiyum says they are not borrowing money to build things that are of no use.

Government spends close to $1.1 billion on the salary of more than 30,000 civil servants every year.

Sayed-Khaiyum says their policy is not to cut the pay of civil servants and they hope to continue with it.

He says there is a lot of demand being placed on some civil servants such as the health staff and disciplined forces and they cannot envisage giving them a pay cut.

Sayed-Khaiyum also says not reducing their pay has worked well as a lot of civil servants provide assistance to people who are unemployed in the private sector such as hotel workers.