The Finance Ministry on Friday disclosed that the recently announced eight per cent salary increase for all Public Servants and the one-month bonus for the Joint Services have been paid, and more than 52,000 employees in the Public Sector have benefitted.
“More than 52,000 Public Servants, teachers, members of the Disciplined Services, and Government pensioners received their 2022 salary increase in the last week, representing payment of the eight per cent retroactive salary increase announced by President Ali on November 17 last, along with the substantive December salaries and pensions,” a statement from the Ministry detailed.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President, with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, has used the opportunity to laud the Finance Ministry’s staff, who worked tirelessly and diligently to ensure that the increases were paid out in time for the Christmas Season to eligible persons, together with the retroactive amounts on the designated payday.
The Ministry also ensured that members of the Disciplined Services received the one-month tax-free bonus today, just in time for Christmas. This bonus was announced by the President on Wednesday, December 21, and has placed over $1.3 billion in the hands of members of the Disciplined Services.
“All efforts were made by staff of the Ministry of Finance, along with the respective Finance Departments across Ministries and Regions, to ensure that workers received their December salaries along with the retroactive payments, in keeping with Government’s promise,” the missive added.
Dr Singh further highlighted the importance of persons receiving these payments before Christmas, which would stimulate economic activity across the country. The Finance Minister also recognised the diligent efforts of Finance staff in ensuring that the payrolls of various agencies were processed on time.
In addition to the eight per cent salary increase received, members of the Disciplined Services and Health workers would also receive salary adjustments in January 2023, reflective of announcements made by President Ali on November 24 and December 12 respectively.
With regard to Health sector workers, the salary adjustment to the tune of $1.5 billion would be to the benefit of over 5,000 health care professionals, while an estimated 8,000 members of the Disciplined Services would benefit from their salary adjustments, which would increase their disposable incomes by over $1 billion annually.
President Ali has highlighted that his Government’s focus is on an holistic plan of improving workers’ lives, with salary increases being one aspect of the benefit that would be provided.
In fact, only last week, the Head of State assured that salary adjustments for every category of workers would be addressed.
“Every sector of employees, their time will come…every category of workers will be addressed, and we are starting from critical areas where there were great anomalies, and that is how we’ve started, and we’re progressing well,” the President told reporters.
He was at the time being asked about increases for teachers, after concerns were raised, since no additional benefits were announced for them.
“I value the work of teachers tremendously. Teachers are an important asset to our country. My own parents were teachers, so no one has to tell me the value of teachers,” President Ali stated.
Asked about a timeframe within which teachers would see salary adjustments, the Guyanese Leader has said, “I don’t want to give you a timeframe, but as you can see, things are happening very quickly in this country.”
Nevertheless, the Head of State has pointed out that his Government’s intention is to improve the overall welfare of citizens, not just focus on salaries. This, he noted, includes improving healthcare delivery, quality of infrastructure, the quality of water, and reducing the cost of electricity, among other things.
