Priya Manickchand: At almost every age group, Guyanese will receive cash grants

Education Minister Priya Manickchand, on Sunday, January 19, disclosed that for almost every age group, Guyanese will receive cash grants from the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government.

According to Minister Manickchand, there has been every indication that the government will continue to give these grants to its citizens. She also hinted that the grants would increase.

“When you’re zero years old and you’re just born, you will get a hundred grand, that [was] just announced by the government through the 2025 budget.

When you hit three years old and some and you get into nursery school all the way until you’re finished secondary which is somewhere around 16, 17, or 18 depending on when you come out of school you will get the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant which at this point stands at fifty-five thousand dollars, but that’s likely to grow we know for sure it’s not going to go down, but it can grow.

And then when you hit 18 years old, the hundred thousand grant that adults in Guyana are getting, that has begun, there has been every indication that that’s going to continue,” Minister Manickchand said.

The Minister also stated that when you hit 65 years old, you would also be receiving an old-age pension, which is now GYD$41,000, per month.

Public Assistance, which is also another step taken by the government to support those in need, currently stands at GYD$22,000 per month.

“I know we are going to want to talk oil money and fiscal space, but without any oil money in 2014 we were giving the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant and that was taken away without any oil money somewhere in the 2000s. [When] Bharrat Jagdeo was president [he] started the uniform grant.

It was a voucher at the time, so with the PPP/C government whenever we have money, whenever we have resources we always try to reinvest it back into people and make sure however little or however much that people feel those resources directly in their pockets, in addition to all the other benefits this budget brings,” the Minister further said.