‘Not Asking for Charity, but a Fair Share’: APNU Plea For Public Servants Wage Increase Before Christmas, Retroactive to January 2026

By Marvin Cato | HGP Nightly News |

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — The main opposition coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), has formally petitioned the Government of Guyana to grant public servants a sustainable, permanent wage increase of not less than 25 per cent ahead of the upcoming Christmas holidays, demanding that the adjustment be made fully retroactive to January 1, 2026.

In a formal missive dispatched to Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Ashni Singh, the parliamentary opposition declared that state employees “are not asking for charity” but rather “a fair share of a national windfall that belongs to all Guyanese.”

The coalition highlighted that while Guyana continues to register rapid macroeconomic expansion fueled by the offshore petroleum boom, the country’s workforce faces high cost-of-living pressures, with general public servants currently surviving on a statutory basic monthly minimum wage of just $102,346.

Fiscal Feasibility: US$302 Million Cost vs. Multi-Billion Petroleum Revenues

Challenging executive arguments that large percentage salary adjustments threaten fiscal stability, APNU presented budgetary computations to demonstrate that a 25 per cent wage increase is viable:

• Estimated Fiscal Cost: Based on the 2025 public sector wage expenditure of US$1.21 billion, the coalition calculated that a 25 per cent across-the-board increase would cost the treasury approximately US$302 million.
• Available Fiscal Buffers: APNU pointed out that total government revenue stood at approximately US$4 billion as of May this year, providing immediate fiscal space.
• Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Trajectory: The sovereign wealth fund is projected to expand significantly over the medium term, ballooning to approximately US$6.35 billion by 2028 and reaching US$7.93 billion by 2029.
• The 2026 Mid-Year Petroleum Surge: The coalition cited the Ministry of Finance’s own 2026 Mid-Year Report, which revealed that projected petroleum revenue deposits for 2026 have been revised upward to US$6.5 billion—a massive 136.8 per cent increase over initial budget estimates.

Inflation Realities: Food Baskets Up 54% Since 2020

The coalition emphasized that temporary one-off cash grants cannot substitute for permanent base wage enhancements when inflation continues to erode real purchasing power:

• Official Price Indices: APNU referenced the latest official data from the Bureau of Statistics, which recorded an annual Georgetown urban inflation rate of 3.4 per cent in September, driven by a 3.8 per cent rise in food commodities.
• The Five-Year Cost Shift: The party highlighted that the national Food Price Index has surged by approximately 54 per cent above December 2020 benchmarks, demonstrating a compounding surge in the cost of a basic household food basket.
• Hinterland and Rural Realities: The coalition observed that while coastal workers face sharp price pressures, families residing in interior, riverine, and hinterland communities encounter even higher transportation and commodity price burdens that demand proportional wage relief.

“Public servants should be able to face the future with greater security about feeding their families and being able to pay their bills. There must be permanent improvement in basic salaries, with greater proportional relief for the lowest-paid public servants.” — APNU Official Statement

Proportional Relief and Structural Reform

Calling on the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration to prioritize human capital over raw physical construction, the opposition emphasized that national development is incomplete if public servants cannot sustain their households:

• Targeting the Lowest Earners: APNU proposed that any salary package provide greater proportional relief to entry-level public servants, junior healthcare staff, educators, and members of the disciplined services who carry the heaviest cost-of-living burdens.
• Collective Bargaining: The coalition urged the administration to engage in structured collective bargaining with representative labor bodies, including the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), to establish predictable, inflation-linked wage adjustments rather than relying on late-year unilateral announcements.