Salary increases must be financially sustainable – GS Jagdeo

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, today (December 14, 2023), took on critics of the 6.5% salary increase, stressing that they are not taking into account the full picture of Guyana’s transformational development, nor the need to balance increases with an analysis of the economy – the state of your finances – and projected future revenues.

He reminded that the government must grant salary increases to its employees in a manner that is financially sustainable and responsible.

The general secretary made these remarks during his weekly press conference on Thursday at Freedom House, Georgetown. “Any salary increase that is not grounded in an analysis of your economy, the state of your finances, and doesn’t take account of your future revenue streams will be conjecture and will not be sustainable. We’ve seen this happen in many, many countries in the past,” he noted.

The former President highlighted that the government is cognizant of the fact that a keen eye must be placed on the recurrent expenditures of the country, especially when the country has now begun to use its oil resources. Dr. Jagdeo, who is also Vice President of Guyana said, “The problem with recurrent things is that many countries do that. When they get the first oil money, they splurge, and when you increase the recurrent budget, what happens in subsequent years?”

He added, “We have 54,000 public servants earning $87 billion – that is wages and salaries bill. The public servants are very important to managing a country. They work with the administration of many of our programmes in Guyana. We have ensured that working conditions have improved. We have ensured that salaries have increased for our public servants. In some categories now, in the lower levels of the public service, people are leaving the private sector because we have a minimum wage now in the public sector that is higher than in many private sector agencies….in the upper categories we still have an exodus of some people to the private sector.

“…when you run a country, you have to take care of your public servants, but you have a duty to all the people too, who are not public servants, who work, who contribute to national wealth, who pay taxes. They also have to benefit from the treasury. And how do you get them to benefit?  You have to think about that too.”

Moreover, Dr Jagdeo said that the government must be able to use the resources garnered from oil to invest in critical infrastructure that supports Guyana’s development. “We have invested over $100 billion in housing because it’s subsidized. To do 50,000 house lots. It means a benefit to 50,000 of our people some of whom might be public servants too…it’s not only wages and salaries you can spend on. You have to spend on roads, electricity…we’ve subsidized electricity now. We have absorbed all of the costs because of higher oil prices and carry it on the treasury,” Dr Jagdeo explained.

Since assuming office, the PPP/C government removed some $40 billion worth of taxes on items including agricultural machinery, data, water, and electricity. The government also restored and increased the Because We Care cash grant, amounting to more than $10 billion, with $14.5 billion more being given to senior citizens in old age pension. Further, the government has instituted the part-time jobs program which saw more than $10 billion placed into the hands of Guyanese.

These measures form part of the government’s commitment to increase disposable income and create a better standard of living for all.