No improvement in Guyanese standard of living despite oil – Forde

Dec 30, 2022 News

---

…accuses Govt. of accessing billions of dollars while families stretching small incomes

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Government would have withdrawn revenue from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) three times this year since receiving income from its oil sector. The money amounted to more than US$600M or more than a GY$100B.

Despite this windfall cash growing this year’s budget to the largest the country has ever seen, Shadow Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Roysdale Forde said that quality of life for the ordinary Guyanese saw “…negligible to zero improvement…”

Forde said that prices increased a hundredfold on some essential items resulting in greater financial burden for families. “Having to cut and contrive for those who can’t afford, and to make ends meet, many, including pensioners and single-parent mothers, are finding it difficult to serve nutritious meals, maintain a roof over their heads, pay transportation and utilities bills, and save for a rainy day.”

In his latest writing ‘From the desk of Roysdale Forde SC’ published in the Village Voice, the Member of Parliament (MP) said that thrice this year, the government dipped into the NRF. In May, US$200M was withdrawn, in July another US$200M, and this month US$207.6M.  Forde said that the 2022 Budget was the largest ever. Guyana expects to earn more than US$ 1 billion from oil and gas, and the economy is projected to grow by 60 percent.

“By no stretch of imagination is Guyana a poor country,” he said. “Guyana is ranked among the world’s fastest growing economies, but the growth and spending are leaving the majority behind because of structural discrimination, nepotism and corruption.”

This discrimination, the MP said has a face and those affected are feeling it. “A pensioner is expected to subsist on $28,000 per month. The average salary for public sector workers, many of whom are single parents, is less than $90,000 per month. The entry level salary for a police constable is $102,000 per month. A significant number of men and women in uniform are earning less than $130,000. Many teachers, tasked with the noble responsibility to mould our children’s minds, earn less than $150,000 per month. A worker with a $8M house mortgage pays $60,000 per month to the bank. The minimum rental for a decent unfurnished, 2 bedroom- house, with the basic amenities, in southern Georgetown, is about $ 60,000 per month. Not to mention the cost of electricity, kerosene and/or gas and other essentials.”

Forde added that in the last two years inflation has risen steadily, reducing the purchasing power of the dollar. Guyana’s inflation rate for 2021 was 5.03%, a 4.04% increase from 2020; for 2019, the rate was 2.09%; in 2018, the rate was 1.28%, a 0.62% decline from 2017. In 2022, the International Monetary Fund projected inflation will rise to 9.4 %. It is becoming increasingly difficult for workers to survive on their salaries, Forde posited. He said that, “as families are stretching themselves thin on small incomes the government has been withdrawing billions from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) but the sum has had no direct impact on the lives of ordinary people.”

He submitted that President Irfaan Ali’s ‘One Guyana’ is not about all of Guyana and that the government has repeatedly demonstrated this attitude by the way it treats the majority of Guyanese, with scant regard. He said the government’s election campaign promise of a 50% increase to all public servants, after more than two years in government, the president has not delivered. Instead, unilaterally tossing less than 20% increase in wages and salaries to public servants, in recent years, is as discriminatory as it can get, Forde said. He reminded that in 2020 public servants received no increase from the government. He said that in 2021, they were tossed a 7 % taxable increase, and in 2022 an 8 % taxable increase.

“Meanwhile, the government has been facilitating the massive transfer of state wealth and awarding huge contracts to the identified ‘one Guyana.’ Flagrant disregard for public sector workers and the vulnerable in our midst continues despite evidence of the vast economic disparities and repeated advice to pursue political inclusion and shared prosperity.”

Forde highlighted that senior members of the US President, Joe Biden’s administration, and most recently the resident US Ambassador, have also urged the PPP to act responsibly. He said that a recent World Bank Report (October 2022) drew attention to the ignored inequities, noting the: “Negative impacts of the pandemic on household income, food insecurity and children’s education persisted in 2021 with about half of households (49 percent) reportedly experiencing lower total household income compared to the period before the pandemic.” “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 region at around 48 percent.” Forde reported. He said that Guyana’s structural discrimination can only be dismantled when the People’s Progressive Party government stops the selfishness of ‘one Guyana’ and acts responsibly and govern in the interest of all Guyana.

---

---