Government is working to reduce the wage bill from the current 51 percent to 40 percent in 2017 in order to invest in social and economic services.

President John Mahama disclosed this at the 21st breakfast meeting with the Ghanaian business community organized by the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC) in Accra on Monday.

One of the intractable problems the NDC government faced was the wage bill, the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), which the government implemented, spiraled out of control to the extent that remuneration of public sector workers was consuming more than 70 percent of total tax revenue.

“But we have managed to bring it down. It is now hovering around 51 percent, and we are hoping we can bring it down to 49 percent by end of this year. We are hoping that next year we will be able to bring it further down to 40 percent.

“But the ideal percentage recommended by ECOWAS is 35 percent. We hope that we should be able to achieve that in the next couple of years,” the president said.

He said wage negotiations for 2017 were concluded about two months ago and “we know exactly how much it is going to cost us when we present the budget to Parliament. I am happy to say that wages and salaries have been put under control.”