Gov’t reaffirms commitment to public sector wage proposal

Minister of Finance and the Public Service,Fayval Williams, says the Government remains committed to the wage offer put forward to the public-sector workers.

Williams, who was addressing the House of Representatives on Thursday (February 12) where she tabled the 2026/27 Estimates of Expenditure, explained that the Government is currently engaged in a wage negotiation cycle with public-sector workers.

“We take that quite seriously, coming on the heels of the major wage restructuring. Today, this Government is indicating that despite the massive disruption of [Hurricane] Melissa, totalling US$8.8 billion or 41 per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP), and the debt we must take on to rebuild, reconstruct and build in resilience in our infrastructure as a government, despite all of that, we remain committed to the wage offer that this Government has put forward to our public-sector workers,” she stated.

“This offer was put forward prior to the devastation visited on us by the Category Five Hurricane Melissa, with winds of 185 miles per hour, on October 28, 2025. That we are able to do so following Melissa is a testimony to the years of fiscal discipline, pre-Melissa, and the many years to come of continued good fiscal management,” the Minister added.

Meanwhile, Williams noted that last year, the Government committed to increasing the income tax threshold to $1.9 million for fiscal year 2026/27.

“This Government also remains committed to the increase in the threshold to $1.9 million, come April 1, 2026,” she stated.

- JIS News

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