Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana Riding on the Crest of Truth
Last Updated on Saturday, 19 October 2024, 9:38 by Denis Chabrol
President Irfaan Ali and Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley speaking at the opening of the Barbados Labour Party’s 85th Annual Conference.
President Irfaan Ali on Friday praised the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) for attaching financial literacy as a component of direct cash transfers to the poor.
Referring to the “One Family” programme in 2023 that aimed to assist 1,000 poor households to rise out of poverty structurally by offering families continuous support through financial education financial literacy, planning and education to assist in economic growth wealth creation at the domestic and community levels.
“It is one thing to give a cash grant or to give a financial transfer to poor households but it’s something else when you link to that strategy financial literacy because the grant was not meant only as a cash transfer,” he told the opening of the BLP’s 85th Annual Conference.
In Guyana, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton had earlier this year recommended that financial literacy programmes be rolled out to assist Guyanese in managing and investing their funds.
None of Guyana’s cash grants is linked to conditions, but the administration has been encouraging four-day per week workers in government agencies and departments to not only accept a salary of GY$40,o00 per month but take advantage of training and education opportunities such as those being offered by the Guyana Online Learning Academy (GOAL). Free university education is being reintroduced from next January for the first time since 1994.
He praised Barbados’ “trusted and tested” leadership for positioning the country in the areas of climate change food security, regional integration and energy security.