Public Universities and other government subvented agencies are to be taken off the Single Spine Pay Policy as part of measures to deal with mounting government wage bill. This was part of recommendations after two days of deliberations at Ho, Volta regional capital by a national labour forum. The participants at the forum, said agencies such as ECG and VRA and others that are seen as viable enough should be taken off the SSPP – and quickly. The forum was to discuss the sustainability of the Single Spine Pay Policy which has been in existence since 2010. Government says it has spent about GHC 7.2 billion in implementing the policy. It pays over 400,000 public sector workers found in 119 institutions annually. The minister of Finance and Economic Planning Seth Terkper says the expenditure on SSPP Is the cause of government budget deficit which currently stands at 12.1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Government has also revealed that it spends about 70% of revenue from taxes to pay its workers. The challenges in the implementation of the SSPP led to the organisation of the national labour forum to ponder over sustainability of the Single Spine Salary Pay Policy. The forum was addressed by president John Mahama. He assured Ghananians that despite the challenges in the implementation of the expensive pay policy the SSPP will not be scrapped.