Latest update April 28th, 2026 12:30 AM
There has been huge spending on the working people
When the government paid the public servants a five per cent across the board increase after failing to reach an agreement with the respective trade unions over the years, there was a lot of criticism ranging from the ridiculous to the ordinary. Some politicians talked about an imposition while others talked about disregard for the workers.
However, every year, taking into consideration the annual rate of inflation and the ability of the treasury to pay, the government paid increases ranging from five per cent to seven per cent.
Last year when the rate of inflation was in the vicinity of fourteen per cent, the pay increases could not match this sum and even if it was offered it could not have been sustained.
However, the critics were quick to point to this act and they blamed the government for being uncaring and for being anti-working class.
However, unhesitatingly, the government rushed to the aid of the working people when the financial crisis hit the developed world and sent prices skyrocketing.
People in many other countries lost jobs and more than a few lost their homes. Businesses closed their doors and there was hardship for many.
Guyana was spared these indignities because in the first instance whatever foreign earnings there were, had not been invested with some of the banks that collapsed.
While these things were happening overseas, the government was devising measures to protect the working people.
Knowledgeable people said that this was not a bad thing for a working class government. It had already paid the workers the increase for the past year but that did not stop it from paying an even greater increase as well as a cost of living payout that in reality made the increases larger than they were.
Prices are falling on the local market. Yesterday, the Demerara Oxygen Company Limited announced that it was slashing the price of cooking gas to a level that was commensurate with that of September 2007. This gas is being retailed below the $3,000 per twenty-pound cylinder mark.
Flour, a staple in the diet of many, has already experienced a decrease in prices so that the working person could buy even more. When the price went up the government stepped in and offered the commodity at a subsidized rate.
This was a far cry from the days when a government told the people that it could do nothing because the International Monetary Fund had imposed restrictions on spending.
The money that the government spent in this area came from the money collected by way of the taxes paid by people who, in the past, managed to escape the tax net.
The government also intervened when the price of oil went up and negotiated with the owners and operators of public transport. The negotiations continued when the price went down so that the people are now paying less.
The offshoot is that they have more money since the money they were paid to compensate for whatever rises in prices there were remains part of their earnings.
The situation, therefore, is even better than when the government paid the increases at the end of the year and made such payments retroactive to the start of the year.
Chicken, which is perhaps the most consumed meat, is also costing less because the cost of some of the inputs has declined. The government moved to ensure that there was no price gouging, that the producers pass on any benefits they may reap to the consumer.
These measures will turn out to benefit the consumer more than any normal pay increase he or she might have been awarded.
These things did not happen by accident because the government kept monitoring the impact any external factor might have had on the people of this country. The government was always interested in the welfare of the people, contrary to what the critics may say.
In addition, the interest does not end there because the pensioners must also be catered for. They are already being provided with subsidized water and electricity.
The extent of this subsidy has run into millions of dollars and the government continues to find this money.
Given these happenings there is unlikely to be the mandatory payout at the end of the year.
Last week, Dr Roger Luncheon announced that such payouts may be a thing of the past. The government is therefore bracing itself for the next round of criticisms as the blame game continues.
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