As global oil price surges continue to squeeze household budgets across Guyana, a former senior finance official has laid out a series of urgent policy recommendations to the current Irfaan Ali-led administration, calling for immediate relief for working families and a flexible rethink of the 2026 national budget. Winston Jordan, who previously served as Guyana’s finance minister under the APNU+AFC coalition and previously held the role of budget director under the PPPC government, outlined his proposals during an interview with pro-opposition media outlet KAMS TV on Wednesday.
Jordan’s core proposal is an interim across-the-board increase in public sector wages and salaries, delivered far earlier than the traditional December timeline that he implies is often aligned with political timing. He argued that funding for this emergency relief is already available in the country’s current budget: the government has set aside a GY$9 billion allocation for cost-of-living mitigation that Jordan describes as “nebulous” and underutilized, saying the funds can be activated immediately to deliver relief to Guyanese struggling with soaring everyday costs.
Beyond immediate wage relief, Jordan is pushing for an early full review of the 2026 national budget, rejecting calls to wait until the midpoint of the fiscal year to address pressures stemming from the ongoing global energy crisis. He noted that global market shifts have drastically pushed up the cost of major infrastructure and public works projects, making the original spending projections outdated. Rather than sticking rigidly to pre-crisis spending plans, he said the government should re-evaluate all planned projects to assess their feasibility under current economic conditions.
As part of this budget reorientation, Jordan specifically highlighted the nearly GY$1 billion allocated to the Men on Mission (MoM) public project, suggesting that a portion of these funds could be redirected to expand direct cash grants for struggling households. He also called on the administration to speed up disbursement of the existing GY$100,000 cash grant program, putting much-needed money into families’ pockets faster.
Jordan also addressed other cost-of-living pressures rippling through Guyana’s economy, pointing to already implemented increases in domestic airfares driven by spiking aircraft fuel costs. He argued that the government should quickly move to negotiate fare adjustments for speedboat operators, noting that it is unreasonable to keep caps on fares that force operators to absorb immediate, sharp increases in operating costs that they cannot afford.
The former finance minister also criticized the current administration for its lack of urgent action on multiple fronts. He pointed out that during President Ali’s recent “Tea on the Terrace” social media broadcast, the head of state offered no concrete details on immediate or short-term measures to soften the blow of the global crisis on Guyanese households. He also called out the government for failing to develop and roll out a clear public policy and education campaign focused on fuel conservation, noting that no concrete measures have been introduced to crack down on predatory price gouging or expand alternative public transportation options to help households cut commuting costs.