Gov’t seeking supplementary funds of $1.75b for sugar severance

Winston Jordan

Four weeks after passing a $267 billion budget for 2018, the National Assembly will debate a supplemental provision of $1.75 billion to meet a portion of the severance pay for around 4,000 sugar workers.

The provision, the first financial paper for this year, seeks to meet part of severance payments due to the retrenched workers of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). It was laid in the House yesterday by Minister of Finance Winston Jordan and is to be debated today.

According to the details of the provision the estimated cost of severance is $4.24 billion, a little more than 50% of which will be paid at the end of January. Additional sums are slated to be paid by the end of 2018.