Unconditional, uncapped, untaxed
Present official estimates show that more than one in three Guyanese are so poor that such persons regularly have to subsist on less than G350 or US$1.75 per day. This poverty coexists with distressingly large income and wealth inequality. The poorest 20 per cent of consumers account for only about per 7 per cent of total consumption. The ruling political class, organized criminals, several private business owners, some self-employed professionals and contract employees in the public service obtain, legally and illegally, a humungous share of the national cake.
Further, much of the national cake is siphoned off through the workings of the organized criminal underground economy, which accounts for about US$600-800 million. “PPP/C largesse,” as Minister Rohee aptly terms it, supports ostentatious consumption and unbecoming displays of wealth (gas-guzzling SUVs, swimming pools and ‘mansions‘ in fashionable districts) and/or is illicitly spirited out of the country, promoting an unconscionable accumulation of wealth overseas.
Perhaps the hardest-hit poverty group is made up of old age pensioners who depend on $7,500 per month and whose
