From cost-of-living support to new infrastructure, Budget Debate opens with fiery presentations

The 2026 Budget Debate opened with fiery presentations on Monday afternoon, featuring a diminished and split opposition sharing their criticisms, but countered by a strong defence from the government side.

The debate in the National Assembly got underway with a presentation from We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Parliamentarian, Dr. Andre Lewis. Dr. Lewis is a first-time Parliamentarian in the opposition. He began his remarks by thanking Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh and his team for the work they did to prepare the $1.558 trillion national spending plan. He then spoke about the need for more safeguards when spending Guyana’s oil funds.

His presentation was followed by a second opposition contribution, albeit shorter, from APNU’s Vinceroy Jordan.

One major point from the APNU representative, who was the shadow MP for the agriculture sector in the last Parliament, was that the government continues to pump billions of dollars into the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) without a proper plan. That statement drew much criticism from the government side, which has long defended investments in GuySuCo and has condemned the former APNU government for shutting down estates and destroying thousands of livelihoods. In the budget, the government has allocated $13.4 billion for the sugar industry, with a major push towards mechanisation, factory upgrades, and expanded value-added production.

Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, was the first government speaker contributing to the debate. His rejections of the first two presentations bellowed through the National Assembly, before he spoke about how the budget will help advance Guyana’s sustainable development.

Edghill deemed the opposition a band of naysayers who cannot fathom how targeted investments will support Guyanese.

He pointed to the new Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge, hailing it as a transformational project that brought relief to thousands of daily commuters. For him, huge investments in infrastructure—the sector he has oversight of— mean improving people’s lives.

But that’s not all. He took aim at concerns raised about cost-of-living concerns, noting again that it is an investment in infrastructure that will ease these concerns.

“When we build airstrips, we bring down the cost of living for people in the area… when we buy more ferries, the cost of moving cargo becomes cheaper, bringing down the cost of food for people,” Edghill said.

The Budget Debate continues all week, and presentations are expected from the Government and Opposition Parliamentarians