Government is introducing a raft of cost-cutting measures in a bid to save cash in light of an expected downturn in revenue.

The announcement was made yesterday Acting Finance Minister Alex Scott who said the cost saving measures were being made because Government had seen tourism related taxes decline and was predicting minimal economic growth in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The measures include suspending overtime pay to all their employees, suspending non-essential overseas travel by Government personnel, halting non-critical capital acquisitions and placing a hiring freeze on vacant posts.

The directives halting unnecessary Government spending, come in the wake of criticism by Shadow Finance Minister Grant Gibbons, who has voiced his concern in recent days that Government needed to be more responsible in shouldering some of the financial burden that may befall Bermuda.

Last night Mr. Scott spoke to The Royal Gazette, and assured the public that Government is still cautiously assessing the economic fallout of last month's tragedy.

"There will be considerable tightening up of these areas," he said. "Travel - well that will be any and all Government travel. In the past when the question of travel came up people think of Ministerial travel. The suspensions mean the entire Civil Service.

"If a Minister or Civil Servant had to go to a conference for example - we would have to evaluate if it is essential at this point in time.

''Overtime pay - that is also across the board as well. If there is overtime to be paid, there has to be a really good case being made for it."

Mr. Scott said the directives had already been put into effect, however in his capacity as Acting Finance Minister, he said he did not know when they began.

Capital expenditure was also going to be drastically curtailed, Mr. Scott said, pointing out that "less costly solutions" were being initiated in several areas of Government that were being upgraded.

He said an "example" would be the Department of Public Prosecutions, which had had year long renovations taking place at Global House.

"Works and Engineering is responsible for a greater portion of the Government budget," he said. "So we are looking at alternative ways of smaller renovations in Government.

As far as the hiring freeze on Government posts was concerned, Mr. Scott said positions which were being covered by temporary staff would not be made permanent.

"There are no plans to fill the posts at this time," he said. "Government has not grown that much under the Progressive Labour Party, it's almost the same size. If there is a strong indication, then maybe there will be an exception."

Mr. Scott added that Government, in its concern for retail and hotel sectors, may possibly in the future give concessions to those areas - providing they demonstrate that they are not coping with the current economic climate.

"If they will be committed to keeping their staff, rather than release them, then maybe the Minister will put a plan into place that will assist them," he said. "There are clearer indications of the magnitude of the impact for Bermuda. The short-term impact is already with us and in many respects it represents an early coming of the seasonal 'slow-period'."