ZIMBABWE will begin paying civil servants salaries this month in a bid to avert looming wage strikes.

Teachers gave notice on Thursday that they would strike over the US$100 monthly allowances which they have been paid since February when a unity government was sworn in.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti said Thursday: “We are working at decompressing and rationalising the wage bill of civil servants and this review will ensure that civil servants start receiving a salary but we are working from a narrow budget.”

Zimbabwe’s entire civil service of about 130,000 – including government officials, nurses, teachers, the police and the army – have been getting the flat US$100 monthly allowance, regardless of rank.

Under Biti’s new proposals set to be announced in a mid-term policy statement on July 16, pay-by-rank will be restored.

Biti said on Thursday that the government’s monthly revenue had grown from a paltry US$4,7 million in January to US$70 million in June – credited to a 30 percent growth in mining, manufacturing and tourism since a unity government between President Robert Mugabe and opposition rivals Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara took office in February.