$1.558 trillion Budget 2026 passed

Following several days of robust debate and consideration, the 2026 $1.558 trillion National Budget in the wee hours of this morning gained approval by Parliament as Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh successfully piloted the legislation through the National Assembly.

It is the first budget under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government, and the sixth presented by Dr. Singh since the PPP/C returned to office in August 2020.

During his presentation on January 26, Dr. Singh had underscored that Budget 2026 is “firmly grounded in the 2025 Manifesto which we presented to the Guyanese People last year, and on the basis of which we scored the landslide victory we won at the 2025 general and regional elections. That result, of course, secured us the historic majority we now hold in this Honourable House”.

The Minister further noted that Budget 2026 comes against the background of the unifying inaugural address delivered by President Ali on September 7, 2025, and the bold and visionary Presidential Address delivered on December 17, 2025. These elaborated on the exciting future that beckons for all Guyanese as Government proceeds to implement the policies and plans contained in the PPP/C’s 2025 Manifesto.

Following the theme of this year’s National Budget, Government has emphasized its intention and eagerness to continue ‘Putting People First’.

“Budget 2026 is entirely and fundamentally about the Guyanese People. At its core – throughout all of its policies, programmes, projects, and initiatives – are choices aimed at ensuring that the interests of the Guyanese People – all of the Guyanese People – are protected and served. In particular, its aim is to ensure that everything that we do as a Government, results in an identifiable improvement in Guyanese lives or in an identifiable creation of opportunity for Guyanese nationals,” Minister Singh further emphasized during his Budget presentation.

Consistent with every budget presented by Government since August 2020, Budget 2026 was financed with no new taxes imposed on the Guyanese people. It is a people centred budget that continues to ensure that Guyana’s economic growth translates into national prosperity and household and individual prosperity by prioritising support that increases disposable income and expands social protection. At the same time, Budget 2026 continues Government investment in transformational infrastructure, energy, education, health, housing, water, and agriculture, while positioning Guyana’s macroeconomic framework as resilient and fiscally responsible.

Key sectoral allocations in Budget 2026 include: $196.1 billion for the continued development of the country’s roads and bridges network; $183.6 billion to support Government’s vision and interventions in the education sector; $161.1 billion to propel the health sector into a new age of modernisation and technological advancement; $159.1 billion to support developments in the housing sector; $119.4 billion for the continued implementation of Government’s energy strategy, including the upgrading of the transmission and distribution network; $113.2 billion for continued aggressive investment in agriculture and food security, as this sits at the centre of Government’s strategy for resilience; and, $100.3 billion to further build out a modern, robust, and well equipped public security sector.

In closing the 2026 Budget debates last Friday, Dr. Singh had noted that Government’s pledge to the Guyanese people is that “not a single day or a single hour will go by over the course of the next five years, that we, led by our President, will not be working hard to convince every single Guyanese person, those who voted with us and would like to stay with us, and those who, for whatever reason, did not vote with us, we will spare no effort in working hard to convince you and to demonstrate to you in an even more emphatic fashion than we have done in the past, that the People’s Progressive Party remains the vastly superior alternative amongst all competing – if I might afford them that courtesy – political alternatives”.