Caption: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the Standing Finance Committee. Photo: T&T Parliament
By Alicia Chamely
THE budgetary allocation for the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has been reduced by 66% for the fiscal year 2026, as compared to the allocation in fiscal year 2025.
This was revealed by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar as she gave her opening statement at the Standing Finance Committee’s session on the OPM on Saturday at the Red House, Port of Spain.
Persad-Bissessar said the OPM had received an allocation of $522, 702, 600 for fiscal 2026, versus $1.26 billion allocated in fiscal 2025 under the People’s National Movement (PNM) government.
Breaking down the allocation, she said the $522,702,600 comprised $494.1 million to recurrent expenditure, $29 million under the consolidated fund and $30 million to the Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF).
Comparing the allocation and the breakdown of funds to that given under the previous administration in fiscal year 2025, Persad-Bissessar said, “This, Mr Speaker, represents a substantial 66% reduction from the revised allocation for the OPM of $1.26 billion for fiscal 2025.”
She said there was 42% reduction in recurrent expenditure, 10% in reduction under the consolidated fund and a 92% reduction to the IDF.
“This recalibrated allocation,” she said, “reflects the significant shift in the Office’s mandate and operational focus for the new fiscal year.”
Discussing how the reductions were made, she said there several reasons and steps taken to achieve the reduced expenditure.
“Taking note of what happened in the last fiscal and beyond,” she said, “For example when we look at cutting off, corruption and mismanagement, we saw that for last fiscal $50 million was allocated for official entertainment and for hosting functions.”
Persad-Bissessar continued, “We took note of that, we had to cut it out because we are in fiscal times that need more discipline and more attention to more people centred development.”
“As a government we are acutely aware that beyond policy design, implementation, efficiency and delivery remain areas where citizens expect improvement, it is for this reason that the OPM has been deliberate in shaping our proposals for fiscal 2026 to strengthen execution capacity, to modernize systems, eliminate inefficiencies and to ensure government services reach people in a timely and meaningful manner,” the Prime Minister said.
