The PPP is calling on the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) to make every effort to collect all monies owed from all parts of the country and to stop losses owing to inefficiencies in distribution.
Meanwhile, the party also welcomed government’s decision to increase the income tax threshold stating that it was another attempt by the PPP/C government to give people greater disposable income. PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar has suggested that maybe a national minimum wage could be looked at by the National Assembly.
Speaking at the party’s first press conference for the year yesterday, Ramotar said the increase in the income tax threshold comes at a time when the prices of many essential commodities have been rising.
By raising the threshold, he said, the PPP/C government “has once again displayed its deep concern for working people in seeking to cushion the effects of increase in prices for commodities that are exogenous to the administration’s control.”
Commenting on the view that the minimum wage could also have been increased, in view of the fact that many people do not earn as much as $35,000 (the new income tax threshold), Ramotar said there was no national minimum wage and maybe it was something that could be looked at, at the level of Parliament.
He noted, however, that there was a minimum wage in the public sector, though it did not cover all sectors of society. Speaking about the hike in electricity rates, he said the PPP understood that the GPL has been operating under very difficult circumstances and the 57% increase in the price of oil over the past year was the major cause for the increase in rates for electricity.
The six per cent increase, he said, was commendable and it showed the caring nature of the government in finding ways and means to cushion ordinary consumers from the full brunt of the increase.
Ramotar said the PPP felt the increase could have been less if GPL was able to collect in some areas where people were not paying their bills.
If GPL could collect outstanding dues and stop losses due to inefficiencies in the distribution, he said, “increases in prices for electricity to the consumers could be even less.”
