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Oil rich Guyana can’t afford more than 6.5 % pay increase to public servants – VP Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – Although Guyana has been regarded as the fastest going economy in the world because of the billions of dollars it has earned in oil revenues, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday explained why the government was only able to grant a 6.5% across the board increase to public servants.
Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo
“I see people calculate we brought in $200M this year, $1B US from the oil and gas sector in the budget, and how come only six and a half percent? They didn’t say that the school kids now are getting $10.5B more, and the pensioners are now getting $14.5B more in their increase,” he said.
Jagdeo also said that since it’s annualized the increases for the last three or four years have to be factored into this year’s payout to civil servants. “When you increase salaries it’s recurrent, you have to pay for this year, last year, the year before increase, because that’s part of your salary. So they only look at 6.5 % and say, oh 6.5 {percent} of $200M,” Jagdeo said.
To this end, the VP noted that people are not taking into consideration previous increases, and how much the country’s wage bill has grown within the last few years. Additionally, he said that the part time workers obtaining $40,000 per month, adds to the wages bill.
“Joint Services bonus, you gotta look at it. Then we are investing in housing, that’s for our people, we have invested over $100B in housing because it’s subsidized, to do 50,000 house lots it means a benefit to 50,000 of our people.”
As he elaborated on the subject, Jagdeo stressed that, “Any salary increase that is not grounded in an analysis of your economy, the state of your finances and doesn’t take account of the future revenue stream will be conjectural. It will not be sustainable we have seen this happen in many countries in the past.”
Following the announcement by the government of what many see as a paltry increase in salaries, publisher of Kaieteur New Glen Lall raised concerns about the pay hike, as he noted that the payout cannot match the rising cost of living in the country.
Lall said that, Guyana being an oil rich country, pumps over half a million barrels of oil per day, and this generates to approximately US$30M in oil profits daily. However, he said the increase which public servants will receive this month, amounts to GY$4,800 for minimum wage workers.
“Generating over US$30M profits a day, and can only give US$35M as an increase to all 54, 000 public servants for the whole year, tell me man. Is this not a crime being committed against its citizens?” Lall stressed.
Not stopping there, Lall said, “more than half of this population, who not going to bed hungry, finding it difficult to grab one proper meal when the day comes, in a country that is now one of the richest per capita, and the fastest growing on planet earth.”
Recounting the massive profits made from the oil, the businessman emphasized that the GY$4,800 in increase that will be added to the minimum wage workers, is small, given that the cost of living here has skyrocketed by a 100 percent and in some cases, 200 percent. To this end, he said that the meager increase translates to four slices of pumpkin.
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