Come Monday, Jan 26, 2026, Hon Minister of National Budgets, Dr. Ashni K. Singh will have his day in the sun, and all to himself. It could be a long day into the night for Guyanese, many of whom prefer to read the themes and highlights in the next day’s news. It is Budget Day, which should hover around seven hours this year, with likely another record for the books. More billions mean more boisterousness and buildups. But for whom? I take a few large select cuts, far from all-inclusive, at what could be in mind.
The theme. Government partnering with Guyanese towards a glorious future. It does have a lovely ring. Public works projects will maintain the stranglehold that is now a major feature of national budgets, since the underwater stuff broke free and raced away from here to thirsty, joyful refineries. Light, sweet makes for less effort, more moolah. Take note: infrastructure will again grab the lion’s share of Dr. Singh’s two trillion budget for 2026. I say 50%, and not one basis point less. But what about the people, the poor people? Oh those…. There will be more than before for them, with a whopping 15% of the $2 trillion budget earmarked for those struggling and hoping-to-coping people. Who can complain, now that it is better than before? Pensions for a nice, round $9-10,000 increase. Children with a top-up that exceeds the last go round. Tax thresholds getting a boost. Especially that Dr. Singh’s most prized consultants, the redoubtable and irrepressible private sector, made a recommendation about taxes. When Guyana’s private sector says let something be done, it is done. Good for a sweet media line, good for the bottom line. It would be inspiring if the government could recommend, nay mandate, to the private sector that the minimum wage move from where it has been stuck for a couple of years to $90,000 monthly, which is less than half of what it takes to feed a family in this skyrocketing country.
National security will get a big budgetary chunk, notwithstanding the free lunch of US security blankets. It’s too late, but I still appeal to Drs. Ali, Jagdeo, and Singh to recall South Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and how their free lunch turned rancid. I left out Iran, for Guyana has long lost that kind of outraged citizenry expressing that kind of outrage and applying that degree of pressure.
Sticking with the cash, Education, Health, and transportation could slip somewhat from past percentages, for now there is GT modernization, an AI hub, a seaport, maybe another airport, and cash grant (that’s it: singular), but with a larger slush fund ($15 billion set aside Office of the President contingencies). The beast without a name, and which leaves no footprints, has to be fed, and its appetite already is voracious, ever expanding. A couple of billions here, and a couple more there, and they all add up. But who is counting? It is only money, other people’s money. Now for the sundries, the nectar of naysayers and other undesirables.
Oil prices are in a shaky, slippery spot. But there is still a parade of banks waiting to be tapped for a small loan or ten. Any potential deficits from oil receipts will be rectified by what has always worked in the past. Debt to keep the feet from getting wet, and to keep the party going. Ahem, for the kleptocracy and the foreign people who have the keys to the present and future. The money. Minister Singh has to stick with the program and deliver his big budget bag in parliament. Where else? The Forward Guyana Movement’s (FGM) leader, Ms. Amanza Walton-Desir already said to mark her absent. The FGM fighter refuses to be part of a farce, a patented political orchestration, complete with a conductor snowed over somewhere in New Delhi. He’ll get back to Guyana in time, not to worry. Wherever Mr. Azruddin Mohamed will be, it is not going to be as Leader of the Opposition. The Speaker will speak up. Dr. Singh will drone on. Mr. Mohamed will just have to move along, if he is not moved out. This is parliamentary democracy, Guyana style. I respectfully recommend that the diplomatic corps present themselves at the budget, then walkout to signal their displeasure at what they put together in September 2025 being reduced to a scam.
Me, I’m taking stock and stocking up on food to hedge against rising prices.
