Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo presents the 2027 budget today. Jobs, tax allowances and arrears are expected focuses.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago – Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo is scheduled to present the country’s 2027 national budget in the House of Representatives at 1:30 p.m. today, Oct. 12. It will be his second budget for the Persad-Bissessar administration. Government officials have told local media the spending plan will be larger than the $59.232 billion approved for 2026 and is estimated at about $63 billion. Officials also said no fuel price increase is expected.
Government sources indicated that the package will continue what they call an economic and social transition begun by the United National Congress in 2025. Items expected to feature include billions of dollars in payments toward arrears owed to public servants, a higher personal tax allowance and a higher stamp duty allowance. Officials also pointed to measures against tax evasion by individuals and companies, details of business investment under the Government’s Revitalisation Plan, a housing drive tied to the construction sector, and energy sector plans. The energy plans may include arrangements with foreign companies, cross-border reserves and an update on the Guaracara refinery. These items are expectations reported before the speech and have not been confirmed.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said the Government expects to create thousands of jobs and attract billions of dollars in investment. In an interview with the Sunday Express, she said the Labour Force Participation Rate rose to 55.1 percent in the first quarter of 2026 from 54.3 percent when her administration took office. She also said more than 2,900 people had been hired under a new public spaces upkeep programme that replaced the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme, and that wage talks covering almost 40,000 public workers had begun. She cited a planned steel plant refurbishment at the former ArcelorMittal site, with an initial investment of about US$250 million, more than 1,000 jobs and first production targeted for the end of 2027. These figures are the Prime Minister’s statements. In a separate social media post on Sunday, she said the Government would steer public money toward productive activity and honest work.
The opposition People’s National Movement has rejected the Government’s outlook. Opposition Leader Penelope Beckles, former energy minister Stuart Young and party whip Marvin Gonzales each said the budget would contain unfulfilled promises, and they cited job losses and delays in paying public servants. Those assertions are political claims and were not independently verified here. Shoppers interviewed in San Fernando by Guardian Media said they hoped for relief on food costs. Last October, Tancoo removed value-added tax from 16 categories of food items, while most other goods still carry a 12.5 percent rate.
Beckles is scheduled to deliver the opposition’s budget reply on Friday. After the House debate ends next week, the process moves to examination of ministers’ spending in committee and then to a Senate debate. The Tobago House of Assembly is seeking $4.12 billion for 2027, or about 6.6 percent of the projected national budget, compared with $3.724 billion, or 6.3 percent, in 2026.