Caption: Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles. Photo: T&T Parliament

 

By Alicia Chamely

OPPOSITION Leader Penelope Beckles is accusing Minister of Finance Davendranath Tancoo of being dishonest with the projected $3.568 billion deficit, saying the true figure could be closer to $10 billion.

Delivering her inaugural Budget 2026 response in the Lower House, Port of Spain, on Friday morning, Beckles called the Budget one of “deception, treachery and betrayal.”

Beckles noted the Budget was “remarkable in not only what it said but what it did not say”

She said, “It gave no rationale for its myriad of hard and oppressive measures, it provided no analysis of the economy and gave no plans for job creation or economic stimulation, other than a pie in the sky, almost childish rhetoric.”

Beckles said, “When it comes to the revenue estimates of 2026 and that is that the government will not meet its grossly overestimated projects and at the same time it intends to tax, fine, squeeze, and raid its way to make the population pay through its nose.”

Addressing the deficit, Beckles said when looking through the figures of the Budget, “something does not add up.”

She said, “When I look at page 67 of draft estimates of revenue 2026, produced by the Minister under the heading ‘10: Borrowing’, this government intends to borrow $18.9 billion in fiscal 2026, this is $8 billion more in borrowing than in 2025. More shocking is that $10.8 billion out of this is foreign borrowing, to be paid back without precious foreign exchange.”

Beckles said, “The government must explain to this country why the estimated budget deficit is only $3.8 billion, when the minister of finance is planning to borrow almost $19 billion.”

Pointing to another anomaly in Tancoo’s Budget presentation, she said, could be seen in the draft estimates of expenditure in 2026.

Beckles said, “If the Minister is planning to borrow almost a whooping $19 billion in 2026, then how it is that our debt servicing is projected to decline from $12.8 billion in 2025 to $7.6 billion in 2026.”

“With the wave of a magic wand, $5 billion in mandatory expenditure debt service payments that must be paid in 2026 have miraculously disappeared,” she said, “No wonder the Minister could project such a small deficit.”

Beckles said, “Indeed, when you put back in the $5 billion in debt service payments that have been deceitfully removed from the estimates of expenditure, and cater for the overestimate of revenues from petroleum because of the inflated oil and gas prices, the true deficit in 2026 is likely to be closer to $10 billion.”

She continued, “This does include the money of the 10% increase in salary for public servants, which if paid will push the 2026 deficit to over $11 billion, with another $5 billion looming in unpaid backpay.”

Beckles said, “The budget numbers simply do not add up.”

Addressing the government’s failure to present plans for the future employment, given their decision to eliminate the Community Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) and the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP), Beckles said the government had created a “humanitarian crisis in this country,” adding that the current mass unemployment was projected to reflect in a “1.25 percent decline in the GDP next year.”

She accused the government of pushing the country towards a recession, noting the increased taxes and other costs being placed on businesses would both trickle down to customers and would raise the cost of living.

Beckles said the government failed to mention any progress with their promise to reopen the Petrotrin Refinery and chastised the government for failing to bring any new energy initiatives to the table.

Saying that promises made, were promises broken, she described the Budget as an “attack on the youth” citing the closure of the government’s youth training programmes.

Beckles said not with good conscience could the People’s National Movement (PNM) support what they believed was a “fake and fraudulent” Budget.