THE Government will experience a growth of some six per cent in its public sector wage bill this year, despite having a wage freeze in place over the past three years.

The disclosure was made Wednesday at the meeting of Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) at Gordon House, based on figures produced by the Ministry of Finance and Planning.

The figures showed that the wage bill has risen from $139.5 billion in 2011/12, which was 49.4 per cent of non-debt expenditure, to $147.6 billion in 2012/13 or 53.1 per cent of non- debt expenditure.

Opposition Spokesman on Finance Audley Shaw said that it was obvious that the nominal increases were the effect of increments and fringe benefits.

“In terms of the increments, you are correct,” Financial Secretary Devon Rowe responded, pointing out that there was a 2.5 per cent built-in figure for increments, based on performance.

“There is also a one-off $25,000-payment to each public servant, each year for the next three years,” he explained, referring to the one-off cash payments offered by the Government in lieu of a wage increase and which has been accepted by some public sector trade unions.

Rowe explained that the 2.5 per cent increment is related to Government workers who are paid from the budget, including civil servants, teachers, the security forces and nurses, and is based on their performance as well as the requirements of the Staff Orders and the public sector regulations.

“By your educated estimate what percentage of the public sector will get this 2.5 per cent increment?” Shaw asked.

“I can’t answer that question. What we have done is budgeted for everybody,” Rowe responded.

He said that in addition to the increments and the one-off $25,000-payments, there were a number of other conditions, including the cost of petrol (mileage) and transportation, which were really reimbursables to ensure that service delivery continued unimpeded.

“There is also an agreement for discussions about looking at other ways to improve service delivery, and there are other agreements in relation to improved efficiency, in terms of ensuring that resources are available for conduct of work,” Rowe said.

He said that there were also projections for the wage bill to rise to $158.3 billion for 2013/14, which would represent about 53% of non-debt expenditure, the same as 2012/13 but the share of GDP should be declining.