Latest update January 17th, 2025 6:30 AM
Fernandes advocates more structured approach to cash transfers
Kaieteur News – Citing the spiraling levels of inflation, coupled with the “haphazard” doling out of cash grants to a selected few, Alliance For Change (AFC) spokesperson on economics, Juretha Fernandes, has called for a more structured approach to cushion the worrying cost of living, suggesting that a consistent pattern be developed to raise the wages of public servants.
Shadow Finance Minister, Juretha Fernandes
Fernandes on Thursday provided the media with an overview of the current rates of inflation, as reflected by the Bank of Guyana first quarter report, explaining that the current levels may be much higher than the estimates provided by the Central Bank.
“In April 2021, inflation stood at 2.8 percent compared to a year earlier. In April 2022, we saw inflation of 7.5 percent when compared to a year earlier. That’s almost three times the inflation we saw last year. At the current rate, we could see inflation go above 10 percent by the end of 2022.”
She recalled that, “the PPP had promised 4.1 percent inflation in total by December 2022, but with inflation already reaching 3.2 percent in May, it is highly likely that we have already reached 4.1 percent inflation by today.”
Fernandes used the occasion to also point to the drastic increase in public spending by the administration during this period, highlighting a steep decline in the performance of other sectors such as the production of rice and sugar- two major commodities, down by 47.7 percent and 51 percent respectively.
According to Fernandes, “we must consider the fact that at the end of 2022, the PPP would have spent the same, in under three years, that the APNU+AFC spent in five years. If this drastic increase in spending came with equally drastic increase in the non-oil GDP, which is the only GDP figure that matters to the common man and woman, then things might have been different, but instead this spending came hand in hand with economic stagnation.”
The Shadow Finance Minister was keen to point out that this year’s Budget caters for $5B to be used to cushion the cost of living, however with no real structure to govern the distribution of those funds, she believes that the money is a mere fund to help buy votes for the government.
As such, Fernandes argues that the cash grants being distributed by the government is being done in a biased manner that benefits a mere section of society, when the rising cost of living has been affecting everyone.
Coupled with the “biased” handout of cash grants and hampers, the AFC believes that the government is evading transparency and accountability, as the National Assembly will not be able to scrutinize the way in which the monies have been spent.
In November last year, the Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh announced a seven percent across the board salary increase for public servants, after no wages increase the previous year.
This means that public servants who were earning a $70,000 minimum wage had a $4,900 increase before taxes, while a Minister of the Government that was earning $869,000 received an increase of $60,830 to their monthly salaries.
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