Bridgetown.
A leading supermarket owner has suggested a ten percent cut in in wages and salaries for the private and public sectors.
Andrew Bynoe, the owner of Carlton and Emerald City Supermarkets made the suggestion during the question and answer segment of an panel discussion hosted by RBC Royal Bank.
Programme Co-ordinator of the Caribbean Regional Techical Assistance Centre,Dr Arnold McIntyre told Bynoe that such cuts should not be done blindly.
"To focus mainly on wages you miss the wider point, public sector wages are between 10 to 11 percent in most Caribbean countries, if you take the public sector wages there are not only of the Central Government but the wider public sector, what we call the wider public sector, there are between 24 and 25 percent of GDP. That's a huge wages bill for a society to carry", McInttyre said.
"So the question maybe not the cutting of salaries and wages but looking at the size of government and the entities a modern economy needs to achieve the goals set by government", he added.
