Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 25, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
You know that it is payday when the lines at the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) outside of the main banks begin to snake onto the roadway. It is not as if there are insufficient ATMs in the country; rather, it is the things that these lines reveal, which is disconcerting from an economic point of view.
For one, it shows that the vast majority of workers in Guyana live from paycheck to paycheck. If they were not, they would have reserves which would ensure that no sooner are their salaries paid into their accounts, they are desperate for it to be withdrawn.
Those who are therefore claiming that workers are doing better since 2015, may need to ask themselves just how much better is better, when there continues to be this mad rush to withdraw their incomes when the month end comes.
There are persons out there who are so adept at monitoring when the banks will deposit funds into their accounts from their employers, that they can predict better than the bank when this will happen. One man told his friend that the bank will be paying on Wednesday.
The other man disputed this and said that his employer told him that he would not have access to the funds until two days after. The first man ended up being correct. He knew more than the man’s employer, and that is because he is a seasoned hand at going to the ATMs when salaries are ready. He knows exactly how long it would have taken the bank to do its internal processing.
I reiterate that people are living paycheck to paycheck. If they have an emergency during the month, they are in deep problems.
They have to borrow. This is how desperate some people are. They may not show it, but if that paycheck is not payable at the end of each month, a great many people are going to suffer.
Workers should not be this vulnerable. They should have reserves at least for rainy days and to cater for emergencies. They should not have to live paycheck to paycheck. Not when we are on the road to the good life.
Secondly, the long lines indicate that many employees are using the ATMs mainly as a facility to access their salaries. Employers no longer have to worry about writing cheques or paying workers in cash.
They simply send the monies along with the payroll list and the bank does the rest by depositing the workers’ earnings to their accounts. It is not a means of savings for them. When the small man cannot afford to save, then all the talk about the good life becomes balderdash.
This is something that the Minister of Finance needs to look at. Perhaps the Christmas bonus which was paid over the past two years to workers, but which has now been unconscionably withdrawn, may be paid in the form of savings bonds.
At least the workers will get something this year end – it has been a most trying year for them, given all the taxes which were imposed on them. Thirdly, the long lines show that our economy is still cash-based. The government knew this when it came into office. It has done very little to reverse this.
The GRA has limited the amount of cash which can be paid per transaction. Government should be leading the way when it comes to payments by ‘plastic’. But guess what? Government still pays by cash and cheques – yes, in this day and age cheques are still being written by government.
In India, the long lines outside of ATMs are due to the policy of demonetization by the government.
It is being used in order to reduce corruption, since the illegal monies which are held in cash by the underworld will become useless, as it can no longer be converted or used.
The same feelings of frustration which are being felt in India are being felt in Guyana, but for different reasons. Too many workers are living payday to payday, and too few are saving. What a way to live while on the road to the good life!
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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