Govt has no money to pay – Charles

Despite reports earlier this week that tax collection is more than $2 billion above projection, the Government is maintaining that it has no money to pay any of the public sector groups which it owes outstanding allowances.

Labour Minister Pearnel Charles says the Government is willing to pay, but there are still financial challenges.

“The Government would be very happy to pay the nurses, but the country is not in a position to allocate any funds to pay the  nurses, the police, the politicians or other persons in other areas of the health service,” he said Wednesday evening on RJR’s daily current affairs discussion programme, Beyond The Headlines.

Figures from the Ministry of Finance show that inflows into the Government's coffers have been higher than anticipated. 

For the April to July period, the Golding led-administration has collected $2.3 billion more, than it expected.