Zimbabwe Government to Cut Jobs as Part of Stabilization Program

(Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe’s cabinet agreed to cut government jobs as part of a program to stabilize the economy, the Information Ministry said.

The measures will help Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube reduce a state wage bill that the International Monetary Fund estimates consumes more than 90 percent of government revenue. Ncube is implementing a series of reforms to steady an economy impaired by almost two decades of mismanagement under former President Robert Mugabe.

The cabinet approved Ncube’s so-called Transitional Stabilisation Programme on Tuesday, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said in a statement emailed from the capital, Harare.

Key features include “rationalization of the civil service so as to reduce the unsustainable public-sector wage bill,” she said. The program will also seek to eradicate corruption, strengthen Zimbabwe’s balance of payments, simplify tax administration and strengthen fiscal responsibility, she said.

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