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.

To contact the reporter on this story: Godfrey Marawanyika in Harare at gmarawanyika@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, Alastair Reed

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