Grenada PM: performance of some finance officers inadequate

5 Sep 17

Grenada’s prime minister has warned its finance ministry that the performance of some officers is inadequate.

Visiting the Ministry of Finance, prime minister Keith Mitchell said: “Efficiency and effectiveness of finance have to be a critical part of government’s work.”

He noted there were officers who have given excellent performance over the years who he believed should be rewarded.

Mitchell urged the ministry to regularise the positions of the temporary officers “who go way beyond their call of duty”.

But he also told the ministry the performance of public officers in some cases left much to be desired and that some operations were fundamentally flawed.

Mitchell urged ministry staff to be more forthcoming in providing critical support to each other and said he wanted to see improved attitude and performance in the public sector in general and the Ministry of Finance in particular.

Meanwhile, Timothy Antoine, governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has praised Grenada’s adoption of a fiscal responsibility law as “a quantum leap in good governance for a small state”.

It is the only Caribbean country other than Jamaica to have adopted such a law.

An expert fiscal responsibility oversight committee will monitor and report on compliance with the fiscal rules and targets.

Antoine said: “The Fiscal Responsibility Act is more than a bold experiment. It is a binding commitment, to law and order, fiscally speaking.”

He said the law would bring tangible benefits, including low and more manageable debt, fiscal stability, forward looking salary settlements and higher levels of growth.

Ministry of Finance permanent secretary Wayne Sandiford said the fiscal responsibility framework created by the new law “represents, in some sense, a new model for the conduct of fiscal management, whose prime objectives are to promote fiscal discipline and to embed fiscal sustainability, again, both of which are directed at laying the foundations for economic growth and development".

Did you enjoy this article?

Related articles

Have your say

Newsletter

CIPFA latest

Most popular

Most commented

Events & webinars