By Alicia Chamely
THE 2025/2026 National Budget will be presented in early October, says Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
She said while presenting a balanced budget may not be an option, the government is working on “creative” ways to fund the deficit.
Before entering the Red House, Port of Spain, on Friday, the prime minister was asked by members of the media if a date had been set to present the National Budget for the fiscal year 2025/2026.
Persad-Bissessar said, “It will be early October, it’s not a fixed date yet but it will be early October.”
The Minister said currently she was reviewing proposals made by the various ministries, saying some were for revenue and some for expenditure.
Persad-Bissessar said, “I do not believe we will have a balanced budget because we inherited some really bad treasury stocks. We inherited a lot of borrowings as well. I don’t think we can have a balanced budget, so we may have expenditure outpacing revenues. So we will have to find creative ways to supplement those revenues.”
She said, “In other words there will be a deficit, and we will have to find ways to finance that deficit.”
“There are creative ways of financing deficits, and we will utilize the tools available in financing the deficit we are expecting,” she added.
Persad-Bissessar said despite this deficit, finances would be made available to the “people’s ministries.”
