Govt seeks $54.9B in supplementary funding from National Assembly

Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh on Friday presented Supplementary Financial Paper Number 1 of 2026, totalling $54.9 billion, to the National Assembly. The Minister is seeking Parliamentary consideration and approval for development support as the government’s projects and programs continue countrywide during the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C’s) newly elected term in office.

Under this Financial Paper, approval for supplementary provisions is being sought for the period ending December 31, 2026, with $17.5 billion for the housing sector to cater to an accelerated work program. In the PPP/C’s 2026 Manifesto, the Party outlined its plan for affordable homes and stronger communities through measures such as expanding its housing program, the construction of 40,000 new homes, working to ensure it eliminates the backlog of applications in all regions, and fast-tracking all pending housing applications. To facilitate this, in Budget 2026, $159.1 billion was allocated to the sector.

The National Assembly is also being requested to consider a supplementary provision of $19.1 billion under the Office of the Prime Minister to cater to additional resources including government’s Gas-to-Energy Project, which is expected to reduce electricity costs to citizens by half when it comes on stream.
In addition, $8.5 billion is being sought under the Ministry of Public Works, including $6 billion that caters to miscellaneous roads and drainage, and $2.5 billion for hinterland roads as the government continues to improve connectivity across all regions of the country.

Additionally, $8.3 billion is being requested for consideration under the Ministry of Agriculture, including $807.5 million for the Guyana Rice Development Board, $3 billion for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO), and $4.5 billion for the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) to support the agriculture sector.

Under the Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation, a further $600 million is being requested for the provision of additional resources to facilitate maintenance of coastal airstrips, and $496.3 million to support water interventions including water filling stations. Under the Ministry of Home Affairs, an additional $60 million is being requested to facilitate its accelerated work program for the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU).

The government has, over the last five years and continuing in its new term, ramped up investments to strengthen, expand, and rehabilitate the country’s drainage and irrigation (D&I) infrastructure, promote growth in agriculture, improve access to world-class healthcare, expand housing areas and road networks across the country, modernise and expand the education sector to ensure persons have free access to education from nursery to the tertiary level, modernise and diversify the electricity sector, digitise processes for access to goods and services across all sectors, and generally improve the quality of life being enjoyed by citizens.

The sums requested in the financial paper support these intensified investments.