by Linda Straker
- Cabinet agreed to provide 25% of basic salary for December
- Extra payment part of second bi-monthly payment in December
- Benefit will be taxed
- Performance-based appraisal system to be introduced in 2025
Government has announced that all public officers, regardless of their classification within the public service in Grenada, will receive an ex gratia payment or a Christmas bonus of 25% of their basic salary.
“The Cabinet agreed to provide 25% of your basic salary for December; that decision was one that had to be unanimously approved by our Cabinet, and we only got that done yesterday. I would have liked to announce that situation earlier, but without Cabinet approval, I could not have done it,” said Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall, who presented the 2024 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure on Monday, 4 December 2023.
“That benefit will be taxed; in other words, it is income tax applicable… nobody can be expected to get that without paying tax on it,” said Cornwall. “We do not want to give the public the impression that we are Santa Claus in December,” he added.
Cornwall, who announced during a news conference, also disclosed that Government intends to introduce a performance-based appraisal system in 2025 to guide any future bonus or honorarium payments to government workers.
“Going forward, I want public servants to know that this will not be an automatic payment, it will be based on performance, but also, we will have to look at the Government’s ability to pay. In other words, if the Government does not have the same level of revenue going forward, there is no way we can pay you ex gratia payment at the end of the year,” he said.
All public servants, including those working on government contracts and those participating in the government’s training programme Imani, will receive the extra payment as part of their second bi-monthly payment in December. That payment is expected around 22 December.
Cornwall said that the total cost to Government will be approximately EC$6.9 million, which is part of the 2023 Government Expenditure. According to the 2024 Estimates, the total manpower in the public service is 5,363 which will increase to 5,457 for the fiscal year 2024.
