*Guyanese dollars
Oct 30, 2024
Guyana oil boom: every Guyanese adult citizen to get $100,000 cash grant
Guyanese people living abroad will also be eligible to collect the cash grant, as long as they are have a national ID card or passport
EVERY GUYANESE adult citizen is set to get a one-off $100,000 cash grant, the President of Guyana has announced.
President Irfaan Ali previously announced $200,000 cash grant for every household, but that idea has been scrapped to minimise potential conflicts and administrative challenges.
“This also addresses the many concerns of young people who may not yet have a family but thought…that they will not benefit from the household allocations because they were not yet the head of the household. This new initiative will now take into consideration and expand the benefit to those young professionals also,” President Ali explained.
He also said: “My government will now expand this benefit by providing a one-off cash grant of $100,000 to every citizen of Guyana 18 years and above, as of the 1st of January 2024 with a simple means of clarification being possession of a national valid identification card and/or a valid passport.”
Tuition fees scrapped
The grants are part of the government’s commitment to ensuring the people of Guyana benefit from the country’s new-found oil wealth.
So far Ali’s administration have launched a series of measures which will boost the disposable income for the public, including removing more than 200 taxes and fees.
Guyanese people living abroad will also be eligible to collect the cash grant, as long as they are have a national ID card or passport and can travel to Guyana for the registration process.
The grant, which is approximately £369, can only be collected in person.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo recently announced there is no residency requirement needed in order to receive the grant.
US oil giant ExxonMobil found more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources offshore Guyana in 2015.
The oil production in the country has been a major contributor to the Caribbean nation’s economic growth.
In 2022, Guyana’s GDP grew by 62.3%, which was the highest real GDP growth in the world for that year.
Earlier this month, President Ali also announced he will be scrapping tuition fees for the University of Guyana and at all government and technical institutions starting in January 2025.