Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to deliver the UNC’s inaugural Budget.

On April 28, 2025, the people of Trinidad and Tobago, by their collective action, gave this UNC Government a resounding mandate to restore good governance, rebuild our economy and improve the lives of every citizen across our beloved nation.

They asked for sincerity and compassion in government. They asked for a credible plan to move Trinidad and Tobago forward.

They asked for jobs, growth, prosperity and social peace.  It is therefore a profound privilege to present the 2026 Budget to this Honourable House.

Mr Speaker, I am honoured to deliver the UNC’s inaugural Budget.

On April 28, 2025, the people of Trinidad and Tobago, by their collective action, gave this UNC Government a resounding mandate to restore good governance, rebuild our economy and improve the lives of every citizen across our beloved nation.

They asked for sincerity and compassion in government. They asked for a credible plan to move Trinidad and Tobago forward.

They asked for jobs, growth, prosperity and social peace.  It is therefore a profound privilege to present the 2026 Budget to this Honourable House.

Madam Speaker, Honourable Members, I rise today to deliver the Budget Statement for the 2025 Financial Year. This is my 10^th Budget presentation, which comes at a pivotal moment in our Government’s steadfast and resolute pursuit of economic prosperity, social equity and sustainable growth. Before getting into the details of this year’s Budget, I must express my gratitude to Dr. the Honourable Keith Rowley, our Prime Minister and Leader of this PNM Administration, for his support and astute leadership over the past 9 years. It has been a privilege to serve as Minister of Finance and to steer the fiscal affairs of our nation since the inception of this Administration in September 2015.

Reflecting on the challenging circumstances that characterised our entry into office, it is essential to acknowledge the turbulent economic landscape which confronted us in 2015, with declining commodity prices and production levels, followed by COVID-19, global inflationary trends and shortages, conflicts in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war. We had to manage this hostile economic environment in the face of an overdrawn government bank account and a disconnect between government expenditure and revenue, where expenditure had increased by 40 percent over the period 2010 to 2015 without a corresponding increase in revenue.

Madam Speaker, it is a privilege for me to present to this Honourable House and to the citizens of our country the National Budget for Fiscal 2023, the eighth (8th) budget of this PNM Administration. Let me state at the outset that it is my intention to focus in this Budget Statement on matters of a fiscal nature and selected areas of Government activity, in particular the productive sector.

 In areas where I do not go into detail, my ministerial colleagues will elaborate in their contributions.

 No reasonable person would dispute the fact that the last 7 years have been particularly challenging for us, financially, as a country. This Government has been confronted by many difficult financial shocks since 2015. In our first year, we were faced with the adverse macroeconomic impact of an extraordinary collapse in oil and gas prices which began in 2014 and accelerated in 2016.