Latest update March 12th, 2026 9:56 PM
WIN tables motion to increase private sector minimum wage to $100k
Kaieteur News) – The leading parliamentary opposition party We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) has submitted a motion that seeks to increase the minimum wage of private sector employees from the current $60,000 monthly to $100,000.
The motion was submitted by WIN’s prime ministerial candidate and member of parliament (MP) Tabitha Sarabo-Halley on December 5, 2025 to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs.
WIN’s Prime Ministerial Candidate and Member of Parliament (MP) Tabitha Sarabo- Halley.
Her motion also aims to ensure that the “relevant Parliamentary Sectoral Committee (s)” meet to assess the economic and social impact on private sector employees earning the current $60,000 national minimum wage against the current Consumer Price Index.
Sarabo-Halley’s motion states that the Labour Act, Cap. 98:01, provides for the establishment of minimum wages and empowers the minister responsible for labour to prescribe minimum wage rates by order.
In building her case, she points out that the cost-of-living in Guyana has increased significantly over the last five years, causing severe financial pressure on workers in both the public and private sectors.
The MP therefore stated that the current national minimum wage as is detailed in Order 20 of 2022 does not adequately reflect the economic realities facing thousands of Guyanese households in 2025, especially those on the lower scale in the private sector.
“The current Consumer Price Index and Food Inflation has rendered Order 20 of 2022 obsolete, given what is required for a basic family unit to live outside of the poverty line…part of the responsibility of the National Assembly is to protect the welfare of all citizens by ensuring that financial and economic policies (via acts, regulations, orders etc.) optimize the standard of living for the working population,” the MP reasoned.
The former Minister of Public Service therefore called on the government of Guyana to ensure that the national minimum wage for public servants be increased to $100,000 per month by the earliest practicable.
In this year’s Mid-Year Report, the GoG reported an increase in food prices during the first six months of 2025.
At the end of June 2025, Guyana’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbed 2.9% compared to the end of 2024 with food costs almost entirely to blame.
While gasoline, diesel, and kerosene prices plunged easing pressure on transportation and businesses the savings at the pump were not enough to offset soaring food bills. Kaieteur News reported that fuel prices dropped sharply in the first six months of the year: Gasoline: 20.9%; diesel: 32.8% and kerosene: 34%.
These declines contributed -0.2 percentage points to inflation, a direct boost to household budgets. But higher food prices alone added 2.9 percentage points, wiping out the relief, according to the Mid-Year report.
Families, especially those with single parents have been struggling to survive on the high food bill with other expenses, such as transportation remained high despite the reduction in fuel prices.
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