After much nudging from this newspaper and, latterly, blunt scolding from the International Monetary Fund, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has conceded the need to drain the steroids from Jamaica's pumped-up, but hardly energetic, public sector.

In normal times, the $150 billion that it will cost for wages for public-sector employees would be a difficult burden for the Government to bear. That figure represents 27 per cent of the Government's projected spending this fiscal year, or approximately 11 per cent of the value of all goods and services produced in Jamaica.

So, state-paid workers appropriate a large portion of the country's resources, much of which might have gone to productive, wealth-creating enterprises, generating private-sector jobs, financial surpluses and taxes. The unweaned public bureaucracy contributes to the Government's unhealthy demand for debt and a fiscal deficit that, in the current financial year, will reach close to nine per cent of GDP.

The bad, and worsening, economic times have helped to bring home to Mr Golding - firmly, we hope - that a public sector drugged up on debt is unsustainable. The prime minister has promised rehabilitation.

According to Mr Golding, he will establish a unit in his office to filter various reports on public-sector reform, leading to a rationalisation of ministries, agencies and departments. That process will inevitably lead to fewer public-sector jobs, but the process will not begin until next April, at the start of the new fiscal year.

Crisis

Given the crisis in the Government's finances, evidenced by the forced abandonment of the Budget it proposed in April, we would have wished to see the Government act earlier. But we appreciate that Mr Golding feels bound to his earlier undertaking not to cut jobs, at least not in the current fiscal year.

But there is one area in which the Government's withdrawal can be cold turkey, that is, in the prime minister's promise to cut his Cabinet. Indeed, in his years in Opposition, Mr Golding was a strong proponent of a lean executive, along the lines of the Nettleford Report that proposed a dozen ministries. Yet, with a slim majority in Parliament, Mr Golding created a Cabinet of 16, as well as several junior ministers.

Mr Golding does not need to wait five months to tell some of his Cabinet members they have to head to the backbenches. We understand, of course, that by "simply reducing the number of ministers you don't reduce the size of government". However, it can be an important symbolic action in rallying Jamaicans in support of the tough actions that are necessary. Moreover, an immediate Cabinet shuffle will help to create a sense of urgency in confronting the challenges facing Jamaica.

Part of the prime minister's job in the current circumstances is building consensus around the hard choices, which Mr Golding says he will do in social-partnership negotiations. We hope that does not imply solely formal, antiseptic gatherings of state representatives of few organisations.

Rather, Mr Golding must go for hard-nosed, frank engagement of all Jamaicans, making the case that this reform has to be one of shared sacrifice. In this environment, reduced expenditure, higher taxes and creative debt-management schemes must all be on the table.

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