–          retroactive increases for public servants to be announced before year end
–          President Ali says

BEYOND the payout of the $100,000 cash grant, retroactive salary increases for public servants will be announced long before the end of the year, President Dr. Irfaan Ali has said.
The Head of State, during his inaugural ‘In the seat’ media engagement, addressed concerns that had been circulating regarding increases to wages. He noted that these concerns have been created to spur negativity.

“I’ve already said before the end of the year, the public servants’ annual salary increase will be paid out, retroactively.”
“We don’t take away benefits, we give benefits,” the President added.

Last year, Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh announced a 6.5 per cent salary increase for Guyana’s public servants that will be retroactive to January 2023.
Minister Singh had also announced a month tax-free bonus to all members of the discipline services which will benefit 12,000 members of the Uniformed Services and will place an additional $1.5 billion of disposable income in their hands.

For the first time, the bonus was paid to civilian employees of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
The previous year, public servants were given an eight per cent retroactive salary increase.

Meanwhile, following recent negotiations between the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and the government, teachers, this week, started receiving their 10 per cent salary increase as part of a multiyear deal.

In 2025, teachers will get an 8 per cent increase and in 2026, a 9 per cent increase.
Further, public servants and pensioners will be among the first set of Guyanese adults to receive the promised $100,000 cash grant by the end of November.
The Head of State said that the government has already worked on a mechanism to deliver this grant to all Guyanese adults, as he added that as far as possible, they would wish to have this done via cheque.

He said that while there are already natural data sets such as all public sector employees and all old age pensioners, it would be easy to cut those cheques as the system is there. However, for others, he indicated that a system has to be in place to collect that data.

He said: “The training would have been ongoing for the persons who will go now and work with the regions in the fields to collect the data.”
Giving an example, he said that during the coming weekend, a team will be deployed to Region Nine to gather data on things such as identification cards and have that inputted into the system electronically.

“So, they have their tablets, they will go out into the field in two days, register them, bring them in and then all the cheques will be cut on the system and go back out to the persons. So, you have built-in accountability, transparency, involvement to the regional level [and] national level,” he said, which will effectively and efficiently build the system.

This system, which consists of a new application that was developed, will see several engagements in other communities to gather data and further have the cash grants disbursed via cheque.
The head of state reiterated that the move to have $100,000 distributed to all Guyanese 18 years and above, came following feedback from the general population about being possibly left out of the previous $200,000 per household announcement.

Dr Ali noted that as a result of the government being ‘plugged into reality’ and listening to what citizens say about how policies affect them, the government was able to aggressively respond to a policy that brought greater satisfaction.