– to reflect an overall increase of over 75% in last four years

THE much-anticipated salary increase announcement for 2019, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan said, will be made this week. While not stating the exact amount public servants receive, the Finance Minister said that it will reflect a more than 75 per cent increase in wages and salaries for the period 2015-2019.

“Look at the space of time. We started increasing salaries from the first of July 2015. And the last increase was retroactive to January 1, 2018. In two and a half years, we would have increased salaries by over 64 percent. By the time we are finished with salaries for this year, I can guarantee you that between July 1, 2015 and January 1, 2019, it will be over 75 percent increase,” the minister said. The increase, he assured, will be paid retroactive from January 2019.

Minister Jordan was, at the time, addressing residents of Kwakwani at a community outreach held at the Kwakwani Workers’ Club. He was accompanied by Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman.

Over the last four years, public servants have benefited from a more than 60 per cent increase in wages and salaries and more than 50 per cent increase in the minimum wage.
In 2018, government had approved increases for all public servants ranging from 0.5 per cent to 7 per cent. He had also presented a $300.7B budget for 2019, an increase of 12.6 per cent when compared with 2018.

While expressing his satisfaction with government’s achievements since taking office in 2015, the Finance Minister said that more could have been done for Guyanese, if the government was not burdened with over $40B in payout to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). “If I had that money, you know what I could have done with it; I could have done many, many things, certainly substantial development,” Minister Jordan told the residents.

Notwithstanding the challenges faced, the Finance Minister assured the residents that the future is bright for not only public servants but all Guyanese, with the Oil and Gas Industry on the horizon. In this regard, he urged the residents of Kwakwani and, by extension, all Guyanese not to be shortsighted, but to give the government a chance to finish the business of providing a better quality of life for them.