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FREEDOMWAYS            FIRST QUARTER 1968

irresponsibility and arrogance. It appealed to the Trades Union Council to “intercede before it’s too late.”

As regards the economic situation, Guyana is in a state of stagnation and near bankruptcy. The Government cannot meet its day-to-day financial obligations. The Government openly admitted that it owned the commercial banks £15 million, which should have been paid by December 31st, 1966, and £2 million in Treasury Bills.

Meanwhile, concessions are made to the rich. Our timber, bauxite and oil resources have been turned over to foreign monopolies. Capital taxes introduced by PPP Government in 1962 were abolished or drastically modified in 1965, and higher consumer taxes were imposed in 1966 and 1967. 

There has been a general decline in the standard of living. The cost-of-living index figure has jumped by 8 points in 1965 and 1966. This leap is in sharp contrast to the 10 point increase in the previous 8-year period, 1956-1954. this year the increase will be staggering when the full impact is realized of the 1967 taxes, which aimed at raising twice as much money as the 1966 taces. Increased rents have also added to the misery cause by rising prices, growing unemployment and underdevelopment.

While the cost of living continued to rise, wages and salaries for the middle and lower categories either remained stagnant or rose moderately. Sawmill, forest and quarry workers, for instance, received during the PPP regime the same minimum wages as government unskilled worker. Now the government has fixed on £3.50 and £3.52 per day as compared with £4.00 for government workers. 

The government’s trading policies have also contributed to worsened position of the people. Pressed by the U.S. Government, the coalition has placed restrictions on cheaper imported goods from the socialist countries. This has contributed to higher prices. By abandoning trade with Cuba, Guyana has lost a valuable and profitable market for our exports of rice and timber. This has in turn affected the position of rice farmers, loggers, forest and sawmill workers. 

Faced with budgetary problems, the government has also slashed social services—education, health, pensions—and reduced spending for crop purchases, crop bonuses and other forms of help to farmers. Farmers have suffered a drop in income as a result of the fall in prices of their crops—rice, plantains, milk, coffee, citrus. The fall in incomes have meant less money in the hands of farmers and workers.

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