Salary Hike For Civil Servants In St. Kitts

BASSETTERE, St. Kitts CMC – As St. Kitts Nevis celebrates 30 years of Independence, Prime Minister, Dr. Denzil Douglas, announced that civil servants will be granted a pay increase by the end of the year.

In his Independence message on Thursday, Douglas said Government workers must be rewarded for their outstanding service.

“In addition the double salary that was paid this month to Government workers and any increase in the salary of Government workers over the next few months will act as a fiscal stimulus. We are convinced that our public servants and pensioners deserve to be rewarded for their outstanding service over the years and we have therefore set in place the appropriate mechanisms to decide on a pay increase for Government workers by year end.”

The Prime Minister noted that based on several projects and initiatives as well as his administration’s goal to increase growth, economic activity in the country continues to rise.

“I am confident that we have turned the corner in this regard and that the numerous projects and initiatives that I have outlined here today, will dramatically raise the level of economic activity.”

Douglas, who came into power in 1995, said the people must be the centre of any successful development strategy.

“Consequently, our people have been the actors in the development process that we initiated here in 1995 and they have also been the object and purpose of our development effort. We could not see how it would be possible for our economy to make the required quantum leap in development if the majority of our young people were unemployed and in a state of frustration and disenchantment.”

The Prime Minister pointed to several programs undertaken by his administration including the construction of a new hospital, the distribution of free laptop computers in schools, expanding financial resources available to students and housing initiatives.

We have also provided direct assistance to lower income families through the provision of affordable subsidized housing and through the implementation of an impressive array of social development programs ….”

He also assured the nation that the minimum wage is still under review “because we are determined that we will protect and improve the standard of living of the lowest paid workers among us.”

Concerning the country’s development, the Prime Minister said the progress made over the last 30 years is impressive but noted that much more needs to be done.

“In fact, in this term in office alone we have halved our national debt, reduced crime, improved the reliability of electricity, replaced all deficits in our fiscal account with healthy surpluses, and wiped out bank overdrafts with positive and substantial bank balances. It is not surprising that we have been labeled a high income country by the international financial institutions,” he said.