APNU’s Terrence Campbell has renewed the party’s call for a minimum monthly salary of $200,000 for public servants and a tax-free income threshold of $400,000, arguing that the country’s economic growth should be reflected in improved wages.
Speaking in a video recorded outside the Ministry of Finance and posted on his Facebook page, Campbell pointed to the 23.3% economic growth reported in the government’s 2026 Mid-Year Report.
“A growing economy must mean a better life for all Guyanese,” he said emphatically.
Campbell recalled that APNU had proposed a graduated 25% increase for public servants approximately one year ago. Since then, he argued, the expansion of the oil sector and increased government revenues had placed the administration in a stronger position to improve wages.
“There is much more money available to pay public servants better wages,” he said.
Campbell accused the PPP/C of abandoning earlier demands for substantial increases for government workers, saying the party had once called for a 50% increase in public service wages while in opposition.
He contended that public servants’ salaries had essentially stagnated while businesses were recording increased profits.
“This economy can afford to pay our public servants better,” he said, while reiterating APNU’s proposal for a minimum public service salary of at least $200,000 a month and a monthly tax-free threshold of $400,000.
The current minimum public sector salary is $100,000. President Irfaan Ali had announced in October 2024 that all public sector employees would earn no less than that amount by the end of 2025.
Campbell also said wages had increased by 77% during the APNU+AFC’s 2015-to-2020 tenure, when the government had access to fewer financial resources.
However, the 77% figure used by the former coalition government referred specifically to the increase in the minimum public service wage—from $39,540 in 2015 to $70,000 in 2019—rather than a 77% increase across all salary bands. In 2015, the coalition raised the minimum basic public service salary to $50,000, according to Stabroek News. By 2019, the government said the minimum had risen by 77% over the four-year period, reaching $70,000.
Campbell maintained that the coalition’s record demonstrated that larger increases were possible even before Guyana began receiving substantial petroleum revenues.
Discussion