HARARE – Zimbabwe’s finance minister on Wednesday ruled out cuts in the number of civil servants as the country struggles to bring its mounting debts under control. A prolonged economic crisis under veteran President Robert Mugabe has left Zimbabwe with a bloated public wage bill that eats up 70% of government revenues, leaving the country unable to service its $10bnin external debt.
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told journalists after a meeting with an International Monetary Fund delegation that “addressing the issue overnight would mean very drastic measures… that would mean retrenching civil servants”.
He told the delegation this was a route that he was “not prepared to take”.
