The International
Monetary Fund (IMF) says the red lights are on the Namibian government with
regards to its over-inflated civil service. The IMF says although government’s
macroeconomics and medium term fiscal policies have delivered exceptional
results, its spending too much money on wages of civil servants instead of
channelling the funds to poverty reduction and developmental programmes. “It is
alarming that government’s spending on wages and subsidies is about 15% of the
GDP. This limits the opportunities where the government has to tackle the
developmental needs,” said Johannes Mueller, who led the IMF delegation to
Namibia. Government has a civil service workforce of about 80000 people. The IMF
head of delegation said government needs to reorient spending away from wages
and subsidies toward priority sectors. Poverty reduction, HIV/AIDS pandemic and
the combating of unemployment are some of the key areas to which the IMF alerted
the government on. Mueller said more determined efforts are needed to reduce
poverty so as to maintain social cohesion. “Bolder efforts are required to
determine the appropriate structure, quality, and remuneration of the civil
service,” he said. The IMF urged the government to embark on a strategy that
will reform the civil service. Mueller noted that government has in the past
tried to contain the growth of the civil service’s wage bill but these measures
have proven ineffective, hence it is time the government try another approach.
The IMF delegation was in Namibia from 6 to 14 November to review economic
developments and the government’s policy intentions.