The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has again raised concern about the slow pace of public sector wage talks.
An IMF team, which ended a four day visit to Jamaica yesterday, issued a statement warning that delayed public sector wage negotiations pose significant budgetary risks.
The statement said the IMF team and the Jamaican authorities concurred on the urgent need to accelerate the negotiations.
Wage talks have stalled after several groups including teachers, nurses and the police rejected the six percent wage offer over two years.
Negotiations were scheduled to resume this week with nurses and the police but were postponed until Monday.
In the meantime, the IMF team reiterated that wage containment is critical to release resources for much-needed social and growth-enhancing spending.
It added that it is also essential to make the public sector smaller as well as more agile and efficient.
The IMF team noted that the process for rolling out the early retirement program for public sector employees has begun, with an expected completion point of April 2018.
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