Budget 2021 provides for pay increases – Dr. Singh confirms
The Minister for Finance, Ashni Singh.
Kaieteur News – A Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh has confirmed that Budget 2021 provides for pay review. His comments come on the heels of criticism from the political opposition that no such provision was made in the latest budget. But Dr. refuted it. Singh recently made such allegations while adding that they were completely irresponsible.
The Finance Minister made this point during his guest appearance on NCN’s’ The Parliamentary Agenda “on Thursday. Dr. Singh said it was a precedent that the Ministry of Finance in its budget, provided for the possibility of new recruitment, instant payments and forever, extraordinary payments and salary adjustments.
“In the 2021 Budget, anyone who is vaguely familiar with budget estimates knows and can easily be found in the budget estimates, there is an allocation of $ 10 billion to meet the cost of pay review. That is a fact. It’s there in the estimates.
Therefore, I can say with certainty that the 2021 Budget includes an allocation to cover what we describe as another employment cost … which includes provision for a possible pay review for central Government employees. “
Apart from the allocation for pay increases, Dr. Singh said central Government employees would also benefit from all the measures outlined in Budget 2021. This includes the increase in the ceiling for housing loans at the New Building Society from $ 12 million to $ 15 million, the the removal of value added tax on data for residential and individual use, and the five per cent reduction in water tariffs. In addition, the budget also offers zero-rating status for various basic food and household items.
Further, over 13,000 people will benefit from the increase in public support from $ 9,000 to $ 12,000 a month.
“It is an undisputed fact that every single Guyanese will benefit in one way or another from the 2021 Budget,” he said.
Minister Singh last Friday presented a $ 383.1 billion budget under the theme “Path to Recovery, Economic Dynamics and Resilience.” The Budget did not introduce any new taxes, but introduced several measures to improve the quality of life for all Guyanese.
The 2021 fiscal plan complements the provisions in Budget 2020, which saw the elimination and reversal of many onerous taxes. Minister Singh said annually, the measures in both budgets would see over $ 50 billion of disposable income pumped back into the economy. (Report modified by DPI).