The Solomon Islands government is awarding public servants and teachers a six-percent pay rise, backdated to the 1st of January this year.
They will also receive a lump sum payment, equivalent to seven percent of wages, for the first six months of the year which in total represents a cost to the budget of 1.86 million US dollars.
The acting Finance Minister, Gordon Darcy Lilo, told the Solomon Star that the total is about two percent of domestic revenue.
He is warning that the increase in public service pay, which was due to price movements, will mean that there is less money to spend on delivering services.
Mr Lilo says the government expects its public servants to live up to their part of the bargain and show improvements in performance.
He says while there are many hard working and dedicated public servants, there are concerns with some about their poor work performance and attitude to attendance and discipline.
Meanwhile......
a proposal is being put before the Parliamentary Entitlements Commission in Solomon Islands for a significant rise in pay for members of parliament.
The national broadcaster, the SIBC, says the proposal would see the prime minister's salary increasing to 19 thousand US dollars, cabinet ministers on 16 thousand 400 dollars and other MPs on 13 thousand.
