A REGIONAL ECONOMIST says Government may have no choice but to cut the number of people working in the public sector and state-owned enterprises.
Marla Dukharan, group economist with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), in her last Caribbean Economic Report on the state of regional economies contended: “Whether there could be a reduction in public sector headcount or salaries depends largely on the legal restrictions, but it may be more prudent to opt for a reduction in salaries rather than a reduction in headcount, if at all possible. Lay-offs carry severance costs, and could also impact unemployment and poverty levels more severely than a wage cut.”
Loss-making state-owned enterprises, Dukharan said, represented a big drain on the budget, which was unsustainable.
Leasing these to private operators could help to boost efficiency and output, she assessed. (GE)
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