PPP/C’s plans focus on income retention & cost relief for families – Jagdeo

Acknowledging that some citizens continue to live in poverty, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo emphasised that the PPP/C Government has been working diligently – and will persist in doing so – to implement initiatives aimed at boosting income retention and alleviating the financial burdens faced by families.

Addressing a large gathering of persons at a Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) public meeting on Monday at Enmore, East Coast Demerara (ECD), Jagdeo outlined some of the measures his administration will roll out in the next five years to ensure citizens are given the opportunity to be lifted from poverty.

“We still have a lot of poor people in Guyana and sometimes they say, ‘how come we’re an oil producing country and we still have poor people?’,” Jagdeo acknowledged.

“And the answer is, if you send home 35,000 people like under APNU [the former APNU+AFC government from 2015-2020], what do you expect them to move to? The ranks of the rich or become poor?” he pointed out.

Nevertheless, the Vice President highlighted that the PPP/C – since it took office in August 2020 – has been laying the foundation to ensure opportunities become available for citizens to lift themselves from poverty.

One area the government has been focusing heavily on is creating better-paying jobs for the population, he noted.

“…and we’re generating thousands of new jobs, in the 12 hospitals, we need 6,000 people to work in those alone…in the hotels that are being built…we need another 6,000 to work there…when we build 40,000 homes in the next term which is 8,000 homes per year, that means thousands of jobs more for our people,” the Vice President explained.

Earning opportunities are also being created through a number of government initiatives such as the installation of concrete roads in communities across the country – contracts for which are awarded to citizens within the respective communities.

In the next term, the government will now ensure all the drains in the communities are concreted and therefore, more opportunities will be created for citizens to earn, Jagdeo highlighted.

When citizens continue to earn more, the government intends to put systems in place to ensure they get to retain a larger portion of their income.

This will be achieved by continuing to lower taxes and to ensure no new taxes are introduced in the next five years, Jagdeo said.

Additionally, the government has already started and will continue to remove the burden of education and healthcare from families.

Among other things, he pointed out any citizen desirous of furthering their studies or learning a new skill can currently do so free of cost through a number of government initiatives.

At the nursery, primary and secondary school levels, every child will, in the next term, be entitled to a cash grant of $200,000 (including a $100,000 transportation grant); this measure will benefit students in the private and public education system, Jagdeo reminded.

Furthermore, the government has been providing textbooks and hot meals to students and this will continue with improvements in the next five years, the Vice President noted.

Jagdeo also outlined how the government has been subsidizing costs for citizens on electricity and fuel to ensure rising global costs are not passed down to Guyanese.

In the next five years, the PPP/C will continue making the necessary investments to ensure these costs are not burdensome on local consumers. In fact, Jagdeo committed that when the gas-to-energy project comes on stream in the next term, citizens will be able to enjoy a 50% reduction in their electricity prices as well as lower costs for cooking gas.

He also highlighted how the PPP/C administration has been helping citizens with homeownership and committed that in the next five years, this will continue and be improved upon.

According to Jagdeo, vulnerable families will receive grants to help build or improve their homes.