Public servants to receive pay rise – Vice President assures
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.
Kaieteur News – The Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has disputed claims that there will be no salaries and pay increases for public servants this year.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Dr. Jagdeo that the A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change coalition continues to mislead its supporters and the Guyanese public with their erroneous statements. He said, “The reality is that over $ 10B is budgeted in the estimates (budget) under the cap, ‘pay review’. A huge part of that amount will go toward pay rises for public sector workers. ”
Notably, no declarations were made regarding pay increases to public salaries as the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, presented the 2021 National Budget last Friday.
However, Dr. noted. Singh said that in 2020, his administration had sought to bring relief to public servants in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by issuing a one-off payment that saw a total of nearly $ 2 billion paid. According to the Minister, over 60,000 public sector workers benefited from that initiative. He also said that while some countries around the world were reducing working hours and related wages for their employees as part of their pandemic response, the Irfaan Ali administration kept all public servants on full pay while allowing a rotational and working system of work from the home system, where applicable, to mitigate transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
Furthermore, Dr. Singh said that $ 1.1 billion had been placed in the hands of over 19,000 health workers and members of the disciplined services.
In addition, the PPP / C administration promised public servants a 50 percent pay rise throughout its election campaign and witnessed a pour of harsh criticism when no pay increases were announced last year. Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, who had a financial portfolio at the time, had indicated that wages and pay increases will be considered in future budgets.