The government will pay ex-gratia payments to public officers.

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – On Wednesday, the Grenada government announced a 25% ex-gratia payment to all public servants. Finance Minister Dennis Cornwall told a news conference that 25 percent of the basic salary will be paid to all public officers regardless of their classification.

“The Cabinet has agreed to provide 25 percent of your basic salary for December…that decision had to be unanimously approved by our Cabinet, and we only got that done yesterday. I would have liked to announce that situation earlier. Still, without Cabinet approval, I could not have done it,” said Cornwall, who presented the EC$1.66 billion (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) national budget to Parliament on Monday.

Debate on the fiscal package begins on Thursday, with Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Mitchell responding to the measure.

Cornwall told reporters that the ex-gratia payment “will be taxed.

“In other words, income tax is applicable… nobody can be expected to get that without tax. “We do not want to give the public the impression that we are Santa Claus in December,” he added.

Cornwall also disclosed that the Dickon Mitchell government intends to introduce a performance-based appraisal system in 2025 to guide future bonus or honorarium payments to government workers.

“In the future, I want public servants to know that this will not be an automatic payment; it will be based on performance, but we will also have to look at the government’s ability to pay. In other words, if the government does not have the same revenue in the future, there is no way we can pay you ex-gratia at the end of the year,” he said.

All public servants, including those working on government contracts and those participating in Imani, the government’s training program, will receive the extra payment as part of their second bi-monthly payment in December. The payment is due to be made on December 22.

Cornwall said that the total cost to the government will be approximately EC$6.9 million, which is part of the 2023 Government Expenditure. According to the 2024 Estimates, the entire workforce in the public service is 5 363 but will increase to 5,457 for the fiscal year 2024.