Overtime pay of government employees to be revised

Ministry of Finance has said that measures will be taken to control the compensation provided to government employees for overtime.

Secretary of Ministry of Finance Ismail Shafeeg told Sun Online today that even though the working hours of civil servants had recently been revised, no changes have been made to overtime compensations.

He added that the Ministry expected overtime compensations to change, following the changes to employee working hours.

Shafeeg said that every office is allowed to provide overtime compensations not exceeding five percent of the amount assigned for salaries in the budget; however, considering the country’s current situation, this amount is too high.

He also noted that overtime payments are not monitored by the offices.

“We don’t know if the offices provide overtime in line with the rules. It’s not being monitored. So the Ministry is planning to make some changes in this regard as well. Overtime payments have to be controlled,” he said.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed’s government, as part of its efforts to reduce expenditures, limited several overtime allowances.

Shafeeg highlighted several steps which can be taken to reduce costs, such as limiting travel, travelling on economy class, and purchasing only the necessary items.

He said that offices have been notified to identify the areas in which they can reduce costs, and take the necessary action to control expenses.

President Dr Mohamed Waheed recently said that politically motivated expenses made by the State for the sake of temporary gains, have resulted in alarming levels of State expenditures.

State expenditure stood at MVR7.6 billion at the end of the first six months of 2012.

Ministry of Finance has estimated that the budget of MVR14 billion proposed for this year will end up at MVR18 billion, which will result in a deficit of about MVR3.4 billion. IMF has expressed concern over the rising State expenditure in the Maldives. It is estimated that the deficit will increase to 27 percent.

As a result, the government has reduced the budgets of all government offices by 15 percent.