The Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) facesdifficult choices in managing the size of its civil servicewage bill.The Government understands the need to watch theescalating wage bill carefully and put in place a strategyto steer it to a sustainable level as early as possible.Historical and international comparisons suggest that anoverall wage bill of around 10 percent of GDP should be themedium-term target. This note illustrates that Zimbabwecould take immediate steps in 2010 and 2011 that will put iton the path of a sustainable level of wage bill in themedium-term. The focus of efforts to contain the wage billshould be on short-term measures because designing andimplementing a medium-term approach to wage bill managementwould be too challenging in view of prevailing economicuncertainty and complex political reality. The note coversthe staff employed by the Central Government, includinguniformed services and staff employed by the Grant-in-Aided(GIA) institutions. The staff employed by local governmentsand public enterprises are excluded because direct transfersfrom the central budget to local government and publicenterprises are rather small. (annex A has an outline of theinstitutional aspects of civil service in Zimbabwe). Giventhe paucity of information, the note does not make anyrecommendations specific to the GIA wage bill.
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