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Côte d'Ivoire: Ivorien Ministers Take 50 Percent Pay Cut to Subsidise Fuel
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This Day (Lagos)
22 July 2008
Posted to the web 22 July 2008
Chinyere Okoye
Lagos
The government of Cote d'Ivoire has decided to cut the salaries of its ministers by half in order to fund a reduction in the cost of fuel.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported yesterday that the Ivorien Prime Minister Guillaume Soro said the managers of state-owned companies would also have their pay cut in half to pay for the 10 per cent cut in fuel prices.
Overseas trips by government members would also be reduced to a "bare minimum", he said, according to the BBC report.
"Having heard the people's cry from the heart, the government has decided to cut the price of fuel," Soro said.
A week-long announcement of strike by public transport workers has been called off following the announcement of government's decision.
Soro said running costs and investments in government departments would also be cut to help cope with the extra expenditure.
Housewives took to the streets banging pots and pans, youths built burning barricades and at least one man was killed in March and April as escalating food prices sparked violent protests in Abidjan.
The government agreed on Sunday to cut the fixed price of diesel fuel to partially offset a hefty rise earlier this month that caused a disruptive transport strike last week in the world's top cocoa grower.
Soro said the price cut and other concessions to transporters would cost the state 200 billion CFA francs ($484 million), the Economic Times website reported yesterday.
Soro, who met union leaders on Saturday, announced the measures at a news conference late on Sunday after an extraordinary cabinet meeting chaired by President Laurent Gbagbo approved the moves.
The price of diesel, which the government raised earlier this month by 44 per cent to 785 CFA francs ($1.90) per litre to better reflect high world crude oil prices, saw the biggest cut, falling 100 francs to 685 francs per litre, he said.
That and other concessions, including a six-month extension of the deadline for payment of road tax, would help reduce the cost of transport and combat food price inflation, Soro said.
"We have decided to create a surveillance committee to check that the prices are being respected ... we will reinforce measures against racketeering," Soro said.
The cost of paraffin, used extensively for lighting and other purposes in households lacking electricity, was also cut to 490 CFA francs/litre from 550.
Civil servants, who number 90,000-100,000, saw their monthly transport allowance more than doubled to 5,000 CFA from 2,000.
"These efforts drawn up and agreed by the government amount to 200 billion CFA francs, which will have to be found from somewhere," said Soro, a former northern rebel leader who was appointed prime minister last year under a deal to reunite the country after a 2002-2003 war.
"As a result we have decided to reduce state expenses, starting with cutting by half salaries for all government ministers ... and managing directors of state or parastatal enterprises," he said.
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Soro said running costs and investments in government departments would also be cut to help cope with the extra expenditure and reduction in state revenues resulting from the various concessions.
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