Grenada’s Finance Minister Nazim Burke has refused to disclose where government sourced the money to pay the country’s public servants their August salaries.
State employees, including Prime Minister Tillman Thomas and other government ministers, were caught unawares of the late salary payment.
They only discovered that the money was not in their accounts after checking with their banks at the end of August. A subsequent written statement from the Ministry of Finance promised an “update” on the delivery of payment.
Workers received their salaries in early September, with top officials in the Ministry of Finance quoted as saying that the money – more than EC $20 million – was secured from the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).
In his first public comment on the late salary payment, Burke – who is also deputy leader of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) – refused to confirm or deny that government received a bailout from the NIS.
The Finance Minister, in an interview on Wednesday with veteran broadcaster Lew Smith, said he was not prepared to “give a running commentary” on the borrowings or other related financial matters of government.
