HGP Nightly News – Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has firmly rejected claims that the government committed to paying a $100,000 cash grant in time for Christmas, insisting that no such promise was ever made and that there is no budgetary provision to support a payout this year.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday at Freedom House, Jagdeo, who also serves as General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Civic, said the administration has been clear that while the $100,000 cash grant is provided for within the 2026 budget framework, it was never promised for distribution before Christmas.
Jagdeo said the PPP/C’s 2025 manifesto does not state that a cash grant would be paid ahead of the holiday season and stressed that implementing such a programme without parliamentary approval would be impossible. He also questioned the practicality of a rapid rollout, noting that the last cash grant programme took several months to complete.
“We didn’t say before Christmas. And in fact, how can you do it before Christmas?” Jagdeo said. “It took us five months the last time to get it implemented.”
He went further, raising concerns about fraud and abuse during previous distributions, and described what he called an “industry” built around attempts to exploit the system. Jagdeo said claims of non-payment were often contradicted by official records.
“The last time they said they didn’t get it, we checked their name. They’re on the database. They collected their cheques before,” he said.
Jagdeo also addressed public expectations fuelled by remarks made earlier this year by President Irfaan Ali at an election campaign rally in Eccles, where the President suggested that Guyanese might receive Christmas money “if you behave yourself.” According to Jagdeo, the comment was made jokingly and has since been taken out of context.
“The President said, if you’re good people, it may happen this year,” Jagdeo explained. “Jocularly, the President said, ‘if you’re good people,’ and this is what they’re building their campaign on.”
Turning to criticism over the size of the proposed payout, Jagdeo again defended the $100,000 figure, urging the public to consider the broader fiscal realities. He reiterated that the programme is expected to cost approximately $63 billion, a sum he described as historically significant.
“The $63 billion that we have to spend is more than the entire current revenue when I started my second term as President,” he said, cautioning that demands for larger grants must be weighed against competing national priorities.
“You don’t manage a country for cash grant alone,” Jagdeo said, pointing to plans to spend more than $800 billion over the next five years on housing, along with ongoing commitments to increase wages and salaries, expand child support, and improve pensions.
Jagdeo also sought to temper expectations around oil revenues, noting that petroleum earnings account for only about 37 percent of the national budget. He warned against the assumption that oil money alone can finance large-scale cash transfers.
“You can’t even finance 50 percent of the budget from the oil money, but we want big cash grants,” he said.
According to Jagdeo, the government’s five-year development framework is built on conservative revenue projections that combine oil income, non-oil revenues, and borrowing, while keeping debt levels low. As public debate continues, the administration maintains that cash grants must be balanced against long-term investments aimed at economic stability and growth.
