Latest update November 5th, 2024 1:00 AM
World Bank says… Almost 50% of Guyanese living on GYD$1000 per day
…Opposition renews calls for Govt. to press for more money from ExxonMobil
Kaieteur News – A recent study conducted in Guyana by the World Bank has found that approximately 48 percent of the country lives in poverty, surviving on less than US$5.5 or GYD$1,000 per day.
Food for the Poor distributes hampers to flood affected residents of Kwakwani
In its latest Fact Sheet on Guyana, the international organisation said the country’s national poverty status is among the highest in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. Moreover, it pointed out that the poverty levels are highest in the sparsely populated interior or hinterland regions where communities have limited access to economic opportunities, healthcare, and public services.
According to the report, “Guyana’s national poverty headcount, the share of the population living below US$5.5 a day, is among the highest in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Region at around 48 percent.” The document also notes that Guyana “experiences high emigration and brain drain, with 39 percent of all Guyanese citizens currently residing abroad and roughly half of all Guyanese with a tertiary education have migrated to the United States.”
Since the Fact Sheet was published on October 6 last, Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton, has pointed to the need for Guyana to get more from its oil resources to be able to improve the living conditions of citizens. During a media briefing on Tuesday, Norton told Reporters that the windfall revenue being earned by the oil companies must reach the owners of the resource. The term ‘windfall’ simply refers to the excess profits being made by the oil companies operating in Guyana as a result of the higher oil prices being earned, due to the European war. It must be noted that countries around the World are moving to tax the additional profits being made on their resources.
To this end, Norton said, “as the cost of living continues to spiral upward, and as Guyanese families continue to struggle to make ends meet, we call on the Government to ensure our people get more from the windfall oil revenues…we call for this windfall to be fairly and justly distributed so that all households can benefit.”
In addition, the Opposition Leader said Government’s refusal to increase public servants’ wages to a “decent liveable income” amid the high cost of living says clearly that the administration is not concerned about its citizens. He said even though the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) that holds the oil revenue has increased, the PPP has merely given public servants between three and seven percent increases across the board, which means more for those on the higher end of the salary scale and less for those on the lower end.
For instance, “While the average man is taking home a $25,000 increase per year, the President is taking home $1,105,200 dollars per year. That is $1,080,200 per year more than the average man. The Government does not care. Once they can live a nice life they are comfortable with punishing our people,” he argued.
Norton challenged that if the Government cares, it should calculate the minimum amount of money the average man needs to live and pay them a livable wage which will have to be no less than $150,000 per month.
In September, Kaieteur News reported that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its 2022 Human Development Report titled ‘Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World’ found that 38.8 percent of Guyanese citizens are intensely deprived.
In 2021 – the year under review – Guyana’s Human Development Index (HDI) dropped from the previous year. It declined from 0.721 in 2020 to 0.714 in 2021. When it comes to the standard of living for Guyanese, the organisation found that 8.8 percent of Guyana has no electricity; 5.7 percent of homes do not have sanitary washrooms while another 4.8 percent of homes did not have access to clean drinking water. In its assessment of the housing situation in the country, the UNDP Report said 11.6 percent of homes built in Guyana are made from mud and other inadequate materials.
Meanwhile, 7.2 percent of the population was found to be using dung, wood, charcoal or coal as fuel and another 9.6 percent of the people does not own a car or truck or own more than one of the following assets: radio, television, telephone, computer, animal cart, bicycle, motorbike or refrigerator.
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