President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced retroactive salary increases for public servants before the end of the year.
“Let me assure you… that the public servants will receive salary increases before the end of the year and it will be retroactive,” the Head of State declared during an ongoing press conference to mark his first year in office.
However, President Ali posited that his government’s vision for public servants is not just about pay hikes. He said they want to empower public servants and ensure that they become homeowners, among other things.
“We want to empower public servants so that their children too can benefit from the scholarship programme, many of whom are already benefitting. The public servants themselves are also benefitting and we are happy about this. So let us not limit the [benefits to salaries only],” he noted.
According to Ali, public servants are already benefitting from several initiatives undertaken by his government including the $25,000 cash grants and a host of tax relief measures.
The President went on to appeal with public servants especially teachers to trust the People’s Progressive Party/Civic government and its holistic approach to improve their lives and livelihood.
“By end of these five years, you will all be better off!” the Head of State stressed.
In the 2021 Budget, some $10 billion were budgeted in the estimates under the head, ‘Revision of Wages and Salaries’ – a huge part of which was for salary increases for public sector workers.
Meanwhile, the Emergency Budget in 2020 provided for $7 billion of COVID-19 relief cash grants to households across Guyana, $2 billion of one-off grants to the more than 60,000 public sector employees, and $1.1 billion in year-end bonuses to some 19,000 front-line workers in the health sector and the disciplined services.
