PPP policies have had tangible impacts on households

Oct 22, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

Mr. Lincoln Lewis has become a familiar anti-government polemicist who trades in half-truths, cherry-picks facts, and exaggerates for effect. His latest letter continues that pattern and ignores the record since August 2020. To respond responsibly, we must examine the data from 2020 to 2024.

The data show strong, broad-based growth accompanied by easing inflation. The IMF describes Guyana’s economy as transformed, with world-leading GDP growth and double-digit non-oil growth, alongside low single-digit inflation (about 2–3% in 2023–2024) and rising reserves and Natural Resource Fund balances. These conditions protect purchasing power and finance social investment. World Bank indicators corroborate that CPI inflation was about 2.9% in 2024, well below regional spikes, benefiting poor households. Debt remains low and sustainable, preserving room for social and infrastructure spending according to the IMF.

Poverty, as measured by the World Bank, shows the latest pre-oil figure at 48.4% in 2019 (at $5.50/day, 2011 prices). Since 2020, a policy mix—tax relief, cash transfers, wage and pension hikes, and infrastructure investment—targets the channels through which poverty declines. The evidence indicates movement in the right direction, inflation has eased, take-home resources have risen, and opportunities have expanded.

PPP policies have had tangible impacts on households. Tax relief has lowered everyday bills through VAT removals on electricity and water and cuts on medical supplies, construction inputs, and agricultural inputs, reducing utility and goods costs. Excise taxes on gasoline and diesel were reduced to 0% in 2022 to cushion price shocks and support transport and food prices. Targeted cash transfers, notably the reinstatement and annual uplift of the “Because We Care” school-child grant (now about $55,000 per child including a uniform allowance), inject billions into low- and middle-income households each year, with additional one-off and sectoral support during cost-of-living spikes.

Wages and pensions have grown substantially. Public-service pay rises since 2021, the 2024 retroactive increase, and 2025 adjustments lift thousands of breadwinners. Old-age pensions nearly doubled—from 2020 levels to $36,000 per month in 2024 and $41,000 in 2025, along with higher NIS pensions, directly supporting poverty reduction among seniors.

Housing and asset-building have progressed as well. More than 50,000 house lots were allocated (2020–2025), with a strong emphasis on low-income beneficiaries. Subsidies for steel and cement reduce construction costs, turning rent into equity and lowering poverty risks.

Infrastructure investments further reduce the cost-of-living by improving transport, energy, and logistics. The Ogle–Eccles four-lane highway (commissioned in 2025) cuts travel times on the East Coast and East Bank, unlocking land for housing and agriculture and easing congestion. The Gas-to-Energy project is expected to halve electricity tariffs when fully online, providing structural relief for households and MSMEs. These improvements lower daily costs, widen market access, and raise real incomes, especially outside Georgetown.

Historically, Mr. Lewis supported an APNU+AFC/PNC-led administration that ended the “Because We Care” grant and imposed VAT on essentials. The PPP/C reversed those measures in 2020 to ease household burdens. This contrast is not rhetoric but a matter of documented fiscal policy.

No serious economist argues that poverty vanishes overnight. The test is whether poverty is being reduced, prices contained, take-home resources rising, and opportunities expanding. On all these fronts since 2020, inflation has fallen, wages and pensions have risen, school-child grants have been reinstated and expanded, essential tax relief has been provided, housing and infrastructure have grown, and daily costs have fallen. The evidence points to material, sustained progress under the PPP/C government—a core issue Mr. Lewis refuses to engage.

Respectfully,
Dr. Tilokie Arnold Depoo
Economist

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