He said some restrictions would be placed viz a viz fresh employments as the cabinet had approved only 1,000 new appointments for years 2009 and 2010 and priority would be given to services ministries such as health and education.
He also clarified that there would be no cancellation of overtime for the public sector employee.
“The procedure for overtime would be transferred to the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) to ensure that only those deserving employees are rewarded,” he explained.
Shaikh Ahmed said the new mechanisms for calculating overtime would be announced next week.
“So many government organisations do not have a proper check on payments made against overtime payments which is a waste of financial resources as there are 40,000 employees in the sector,” he said.
Shaikh Ahmed said that the government had hired a Singapore company to reorganise all government allowances.
He said the government would not allow any employee to work extra hours without getting paid.
Shaikh Ahmed said that training would not be stopped under the cost-cutting measures, but the travelling budget might be reduced after the approval of a proposal by the Ministry of Finance.
Parliament is reviewing budget for financial year 2009-10 in which the oil revenues that represent 70 per cent of the state’s income are estimated at $ 60 per oil barrel, while the current market price is less than $ 40 and expected to fall further.
The government might also stop the monthly BD50 cost of living allowance being given to all families with income less than BD1,500.
The Ministry of Interior is the first government organisation to highlight its cost-cutting policy after the BD30 million projected budget for 2008 was slashed to BD13 million.
While reviewing budget in parliament at the beginning of December, Minister of Interior Lt-Gen. Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa had said that a five-year development plan was approved by the government and the Chamber of Deputies in 2006, and was launched in 2007.
He said the plan was expected to be completed in 2011 at a cost of BD 150m.
