-says Finance Minister

DESPITE the current political situation, Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan has given the assurance that public servants will receive a salary increase for 2019.

“Public servants will get a salary increase this year and a bigger increase in 2020…we would have loved to go back to Parliament if we had to pay a salary increase that was beyond what we have in the budget, but for the time being, since the Parliament will virtually shut down, we will have to consider what we have,” said Jordan in an invited comment on Monday.

He reiterated that public servants will receive a salary increase in 2019 and government does not have to go back to Parliament to get that. “I cannot say what per cent because we are talking to the unions and they do not like when you go off and say something and there is no agreement and principle,” said the minister.

Jordan, however, noted that the government is trying to reach an agreement with the Guyana Public Service Union, but if they do not come to a decisive conclusion, the administration will not allow the money to be sent back and will pay something.
When asked about the possibility of a bonus, Jordan said government made it clear that bonus was not a concept which they treated with in the public service. “We concentrate, in the public service, more on providing a viable, livable wage…I am not saying we are there as yet, but you have to move steadily to a living wage,” said the minister.
He said Government cannot afford to pay a bonus and a decent salary every year, so they rather concentrate on paying a decent salary which will reflect well on vacation allowance and other allowances. In recent reports, Jordan had acknowledged that since 2017, the government had to grapple with financial challenges that have precluded paying bonuses.
“However, we have paid salary increases beyond the five per cent, such that the minimum wage has rapidly increased by nearly 52 per cent in two years, from $39,570, in 2015, to $60,000, in 2017. It took the PPP/C administration nine years to move the minimum wage by a similar percentage, or from $26,070, in 2006 to $39,570, in 2015. All workers can expect salary increases going forward, especially in 2018, 2019 and 2020,” said Jordan.
In 2018, government had approved increases for all public servants ranging from 0.5 per cent to 7 per cent. Last year, Jordan presented a $300.7 Billion Budget for the year 2019, an increase of 12.6 per cent from 2018.