Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles opened the Budget debate for the Opposition. She challenged pension, Tobago and tax proposals.
Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles on Friday criticized the Government’s 2027 Budget in the Opposition’s reply in the House of Representatives, challenging its revenue estimates, tax measures, social assistance allocations, funding for Tobago and plans to sell state-owned assets. The People’s National Movement leader opened the Opposition’s response, which CNC3 reported she had earlier called a “bikini budget.”
Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo presented a $63.368 billion budget on Monday, with revenue estimated at $59.729 billion and a deficit of $3.639 billion, assuming oil at US$77 a barrel and natural gas at US$5 per MMBtu, according to his Budget Statement. Beckles questioned whether those assumptions are realistic and whether the Government can raise about $5 billion in profits from state enterprises, saying it collected roughly half that amount in the previous fiscal year. She described the economy as being in recession. The statement reports a 1.8% contraction in the first quarter of 2026.
Beckles criticized several revenue measures, saying they could discourage investment. These included a limit on carried-forward business losses, an increase in the Unemployment Levy on petroleum companies and higher withholding tax rates for non-resident investors. She asked for details on the proposed VAT on digital services and on the electricity surcharge for households, including whether it applies only above a usage threshold or to the entire bill. She said the planned cut in excise rates on locally produced alcohol acknowledged that last year’s increase had hurt businesses and jobs.
She said her party supports higher grants for vulnerable citizens but raised questions about the $250 monthly increase in the senior citizens, public assistance and disability grants, which the Government says will reach more than 165,000 people at a cost of $555 million from Jan. 1, 2027. Beckles said about 30,000 pensioners who receive both National Insurance and the grant are capped at $5,500 a month and would not benefit. She also said the allocation for the pension falls to $3.86 billion from $4.6 billion. The reports reviewed do not include a Government response, and Beckles asked Tancoo to address these figures when he winds up the debate.
On Tobago, Beckles said the island’s allocation fell by more than $250 million and that the Tobago Regional Health Authority’s allocation drops by $510 million, or 68%, citing a page in the draft estimates. Government figures reported by CNC3 put Tobago’s share of the budget at $3.473 billion, or 5.48%. She also opposed plans, announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Tuesday, to sell National Quarries Limited, Hilton Trinidad, the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort and the La Brea Industrial Development Company, saying the assets belong to the public and asking who stands to benefit. Persad-Bissessar has said selling loss-making companies is the best way to protect jobs and that the alternative is bankruptcy and closure, the Trinidad Express reported.
Beckles also said a future PNM government would reinstate small business incentives that she said the Government had removed. She cited shortages of medicines in the public health system, a 2.1% contraction in agriculture last year and continuing water supply problems.
This report is based on a recording of the Oct. 16, 2026 Budget debate, the 2027 Budget Statement and reports by CNC3, the Trinidad Guardian and the Trinidad Express.