By Alois Vinga

THE recently announced civil servants salaries are already under threat owing to the continuous depreciation of recently incepted Zim- dollar against the US$ on both the interbank and parallel markets owing to continuous inflation.

Recently, government reached an agreement with the Apex Council to increase civil servants' wages by a margin ranging from 133 % to 172 % depending on salary grade. Under the new wage structures, the least paid government worker who used to earn $1 045 will be taking home $2 500 per month, while those earning $1 885 will pocket $4 631.

ZIMTA secretary general, Tapson Sibanda said the teachers welcomed the outcome and appealed to all members to return to work with immediate effect.

“We appeal to our members to do everything possible to deliver the public services required of them,” said Sibanda.

At the time when the new salaries were announced, the Zim dollar exchange rates on the parallel market stood at around $24 against US$1 and around $17 on the interbank market. However, barely three weeks before the government workers have laid their hands on their hefty packages, after enduring a prolonged period earning amounts far below US$50, events obtaining in the market are already reducing the value in US$ terms.

As of the second week of February, exchange rates on the parallel market stood at $28 against the US$1 while the prices of goods and basic commodities have not remained stagnant. Market watchers have since predicted that by the time civil servants receive their salaries, the exchange rates would have surpassed $30 against US$1. Apart from the depreciation challenges, experts have also warned the decision to effect salary increments will further cause serious problems in the economy at large.

Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe economist, Naome Chakanya predicted that overall government expenditure will exceed the initially set budget.

“Government will be forced to spend beyond what is budgeted due to the imminent risk of resorting to money printing. The new wage structures also calls for government to immediately unveil the supplementary budget because the resources that had been set aside will eventually be wiped out,” she said.

She said expenditure will be overstretched again, throwing the nation into the backyard of budget deficits. Chakanya said such adjustments will impact, in turn causing high levels of inflation which will worsen the poverty situation for Zimbabweans.