GEORGETOWN, Guyana:
The Guyana government on Friday announced salary increases for thousands of public sector workers, including teachers and members of the disciplined services.
Senior Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, in a broadcast, said that the across the board salary increase of 6.5 per cent would be paid later this month and would also benefit constitutional officeholders as well as government pensioners.
“This increase will be granted retroactively to the first of January 2023, and the consequential salary adjustments will benefit over 54,000 public servants, teachers, members of the disciplined services and government pensioners and will place an additional GUY$7.5 billion (One Guyana dollar = US$0.004 cents) in disposable income annually in the hands of these employees.”
Singh said the government is continuing to recognise “even more so at this time, the hard work government employees do in delivering services to the people of Guyana, and in particular we recognise the continued dedication of our men and women in uniform.
“As such I also wish to announce that we will pay a one month tax-free bonus to all members of the disciplined services, which will benefit 12,000 members of the uniformed services and will place an additional GUY$1.5 billion of disposal income in their hands.”
Singh said that for the first time the bonus will also be paid to the civilian employees of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
He said work would start immediately to ensure that all persons receive their salaries together with the retroactive amounts “and in the case of the disciplined services together with the one month tax-free bonus no later than the designated payday in December”.
He said the government is committed to ensuring that all categories of workers “enjoy a continuously improving standard of living, improved opportunities and brighter prospects for the future”.
CMC