Several sources close to the government have told Stabroek News that the Government of Guyana is considering a 9% increase for public servants.
According to one source, following several discussions and meetings with senior officials, it was made clear that the government is “actively considering” the 9% increase – an announcement which is soon expected to be made by President Irfaan Ali once settled upon.
Last month, President Ali announced a $25,000 one-off bonus for 67,000 public sector workers at a cost of $1.7b to be paid this month. This includes the public servants, disciplined services, teachers, nurses, sugar workers and employees of semi-autonomous agencies etc.
In November, he said that an across-the-board salary increase would be announced for teachers and public servants shortly.
Old-age pensioners will also benefit from the one-off $25,000 bonus payable in December. This will benefit 72,000 pensioners at $1.8b.
Differently-abled persons on the public assistance register will get a $35,000 one-off bonus to be paid in December. This will benefit 19,000 persons at $660m.
Government will also allocate $850m for the purchase of fertilisers for farmers. This will benefit 287,000 acres of cultivation and 35,000 farmers.
These initiatives are to be funded in part by the $5b cost of living allocation in this year’s budget.
Community Infrastructure Improvement Programme workers will see their salary go to $40,000 per month effective from January 1st, 2023. This benefit 2,000 workers.
All graduate teachers will be moved to the maximum of the scale applicable to the post that they currently occupy. This will pertain to 4,000 graduate teachers at an extra annual cost of $1b.
Graduate teachers with a bachelor’s degree will now get a monthly education allowance of $10,000.
Teachers with a master’s degree will get a $20,000 monthly allowance.
Teachers with a doctorate will have a monthly allowance of $30,000.
The remote area incentive for teachers will now be $20,000 per month from December 1st, 2023.
He also said that all teachers who hold the substantive position of senior master/mistress or above who are within three years of retirement and have not previously had a duty-free concession for a car will be eligible to receive a duty-free concession for a motor vehicle up to 1500 cc.
He said that there is currently provision for 100 duty-free concessions for teachers each year. Outside of this, each senior master/mistress and above who has not received the duty-free concession before will now be entitled to it three years before retirement.
At the end of 2022, President Ali had announced an eight percent across-the-board pay increase retroactive to January 1st 2022 for public servants, teachers and members of the Disciplined Services and signalled further adjustments to the emoluments of specific categories of workers.
