More than 99 per cent of government salary payments delayed after the rollout of BiMPay have now been issued, the Central Bank of Barbados said on Friday, with about 160 payments still outstanding.
In an update on efforts to resolve the issue, the Bank said that of approximately 27 366 salary payments due to central government employees, the Barbados Revenue Authority and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, 27 206 have now been processed.
It added that the position across statutory corporations was “broadly similar”, with most workers also having received their salaries.
The Central Bank apologised to those employees who remain unpaid, acknowledging the hardship the delays have caused.
“We recognise the financial and personal distress this has caused, and resolving the remaining outstanding payments remains a priority.”
The update comes six days after the Central Bank attributed delayed salary payments to incorrectly formatted payroll account information submitted by employers rather than any fault with the country’s new real-time payments platform, BiMPay.
Since then, the Bank said it has remained in constant communication with commercial banks, government agencies, employers and financial institutions to identify and correct account information that did not meet BiMPay’s processing requirements.
“Where necessary, valid account information is being obtained so that outstanding payments can be processed without further delay,” the statement said.
The Central Bank reiterated that the delays were mainly due to the formatting and validation of account information in payroll files.
It explained that under the previous batch-based payment system, some account information issues could be corrected manually during processing. Under BiMPay, however, payment files must contain valid account information before they are uploaded because transactions are processed instantly.
“This is a significant operational change, and all parties are working to complete the remaining corrections.”
It stressed that BiMPay continues to operate normally while the outstanding payroll issues are being resolved.
“BiMPay remains operational and continues to process interbank transactions while the remaining payroll account corrections are being completed,” the statement added.
The Central Bank also confirmed that government pension payments were being processed Friday and said it was working with the relevant government agencies and financial institutions to support their timely completion.
Employees who have not yet received their salaries have been advised to continue liaising with their human resources or finance departments, which remain in direct contact with the relevant financial institutions to verify and correct payroll account details where necessary.
(SM)
