2 Safiya Tribhowan Tain Primary

Public Servants to benefit from a range of provisions in Budget 2020 – Ali

Public servants have been assured by President Dr. Irfaan Ali that they will benefit from a wide range of provisions in the 2020 Budget, even though they will not see a retroactive increase in their salaries for this year.

The Head of State made this pronouncement during an interview with the Caribbean Times News, New York, on Tuesday (September 22, 2020) where he reminded of several critical relief measures in Budget 2020, which will directly impact the lives of all Guyanese, including public servants.

He said, “Our focus was to put people back to work and put back more money in people’s pockets. So the public servants will still benefit, their children will still benefit from the cash grants, the uniform allowance; they will still benefit from the removal of vat on electricity and water, they will still benefit from a number of programmes that we have in the budget. The help that we gave to the productive sector will allow them to go back into production which will create jobs, create opportunities and all of this will help every segment and sector of the economy.”

President Ali sought to give clarity on the Government’s decisions regarding budgetary allocations. “As you are aware this is an emergency budget. We only have four months to the end of the year and we have taken up a broken system. As a matter of fact, more than B$30 in the budget are liabilities. Expenses that were incurred by the previous government that now has to be paid. So the space in the budget was not there to allow for everything that we wanted to do.”

Notwithstanding, the Head of State pointed out that the Government will address key long-term, medium-term and short term issues in the Budget to be presented early 2021.

President Ali also explained that US$60M was also reprogrammed to address COVID-19 issues.

Over the next three months, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government will roll out, as promised, a programme of support to households battling the impacts of theCOVID-19 pandemic, according to Prime Minister, Mark Phillips.

He explained that, in addition to other forms of direct and indirect support to Guyanese families, some $1.8B has been budget for the supply and distribution of hampers to some 93,000 households across Guyana. Of the budget, the Phillips explained that $133M will be allocated to transport the hampers to communities. He noted too that the government intends on working with Chairpersons and Toshaos of each region to ensure that all services are procured from the locals.

According to the Prime Minister, this COVID-19 relief is one that will benefit Guyanese all across Guyana, as he highlighted that an estimated 38,000 households in the hinterlands will also be in receipt of those pre-packaged supplies.

Further, he explained that in place is a process “All of these environmental changes, both external, internal and dynamics would have created some gaps in terms of what more we would have liked to give,” he added.

Budget 2020 is approxi

Another $1.8B earmarked to support Guyanese households battling COVID-19 impacts

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mately $330 billion.

that entails online applications and based on those responses, there would follow an assessment programme which determines who qualifies for those hampers. Persons on the coast can apply online to pre-qualify for a hamper or any other form of government assistance, he said. “The Economic and Social Sub-Committee of the COVID-19 Task Force, which is working through the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security and CDC, will manage the whole process to ensure all households benefits as the criteria mentions,” Prime Minister Phillips said.

He added, “Based on the work done by all the agencies including the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), 45% of the population is deemed as having the need to be given some sort of assistance and support during COVID-19. Based on that percentage we arrived at this target figure.”

This $1.8 billion allocation is in addition to the $4.5 billion relief, popularly known as the $25,000 cash grant measures which President Irfaan Ali announced earlier this month.