The Grenada government on Wednesday announced a 25 per cent ex-gratia payment to all public servants.
Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall told a news conference that the payment of 25 per cent of basic salary will be made to all public officers regardless of their classification.
“The Cabinet has agreed to provide 25 per cent of your basic salary for December…that decision was one that had to be unanimously approved by our Cabinet and we only got that done yesterday. I would have liked to announce that situation earlier, but without Cabinet approval I could not have done it,” said Cornwall, who on Monday presented the EC$1.66 billion national budget to Parliament.
Debate on the fiscal package begins on Thursday with Opposition Leader Dr Keith Mitchell giving his response to the measure.
Cornwall told reporters that the ex-gratia payment “will be taxed.”
“In other words, it is income tax applicable…nobody can be expected to get that without paying tax on it. We do not want to give the public the impression that we are Santa Claus in December,” he added.
Cornwall also disclosed that the Dickon Mitchell Administration intends to introduce a performance-based appraisal system in 2025 to guide any future bonus or honorarium payments to government workers.
“Going forward, I want public servants to know that this will not be an automatic payment, it will be based on performance but also, we will have to look at the government’s ability to pay. In other words, if the government does not have the same level of revenue going forward there is no way we can pay you ex-gratia payment at the end of the year,” he said.
All public servants, including those who are working on government contracts as well as those participating in Imani, the government’s training programme, will be receiving the extra payment as part of their second bi-monthly payment in December. The payment is due to be made on December 22.
Cornwall said that the total cost to the government will be approximately EC$6.9 million and it is part of the 2023 Expenditure of Government. According to the 2024 Estimates, the total manpower in the public service is 5, 363 but it will increase to 5,457 for the fiscal year 2024.
