Oil-rich Guyana to give citizens above 18 years old $100,000 as grant

The government of Guyana has announced plans to give a one-off $100,000 cash grant to citizens from 18-years-old and above who possess the country’s valid identification card or passport.

The grant, recently proposed by President Mohamed Irfaan Ali of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) on October 16, 2024, when implemented, will replace the previous $200,000 to each household, according to the Guyana government’s Department of Public Information (DPI) website.

“This new measure of transferring $100,000 to every Guyanese 18 years and above at the qualifying date of January 1 2024, will cost well in excess of the $60 billion previously allocated for the one-off household grant; however, in the interest of ensuring the widest possible benefit is given to the Guyanese population,” Mr Ali said.

“This also addresses the many concerns of young people who may not yet have a family but thought…that they will not benefit from the household allocations because they were not yet the head of the household. This new initiative will now take into consideration and expand the benefit to those young professionals also,” he added.

The president said thousands of Guyanese have engaged his government, providing feedback on the measures, with some indicating complications they foresee when the initiative is implemented and the fear of being left out.

The president said the measure is, however, aimed at achieving the government’s objective to increase disposable income, thereby creating better opportunities and building prosperity for citizens.

Mr Ali said the measure is the best course of action by a responsible government that understands its responsibility to ensure that citizens are part of the system.

He stated that the reconsideration of the initiative was based on reducing the burden of administering the benefit, simplifying the procedures for accessing the benefit, improving ease of verification, minimising potential conflicts that may arise, whether within the family or in the community, ensuring an open and transparent verifiable system of delivery, and expansion of the benefit.

Mr Ali said he had recently abolished tuition fees at the University of Guyana, effective January 1 2025, adding that “The tuition fees will also be abolished at all Government Technical and Vocational training institutions including all of the technical institutions, the Guyana Industrial Training Center, the Carnegie School of Home Economics, the Guyana School of Agriculture, all of these, the tuition fees will now be abolished.”

According to him, this will benefit an additional 3,000 persons in the country, while $8 billion will be written off under the government’s student loan write-off programme as a companion measure.

The president’s later initiative comes after removing over 200 taxes and fees, including Value Added Tax (VAT) on water, electricity, and essential food items.

The government had also previously removed the excise tax on fuel, which has saved consumers over $90 billion yearly, raised a low-income mortgage loan ceiling, and eliminated taxes on internet services for residential and individual use.

Other efforts by the government include the allocation of $5 billion for cost-of-living relief, as well as the provision of a one-off $25,000 cash grant to public servants, teachers, members of the disciplined services, and staff of semi-autonomous agencies and public enterprises.

The adopted measures by the government were possible following the huge revenue generated from oil and gas estimated reserves of 11 billion barrels discovered under its coastal waters, similar to those of countries like Norway, Brazil, and Algeria.

Guyana is one of the fastest-growing economies globally, with a 62 per cent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2023, being shared among a small population of 800,000, resulting in a $11,000 per capita income, which the International Monetary Fund projects to be $60,000 soon.