Thoughts on the Penalizing Poor People Budget 2026

Feb 07, 2026 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The $1.558 trillion 2026 National Budget, presented last week and now being debated in Parliament, has been described by President Irfaan Ali and his administration as “pro-poor.” However, for those Guyanese who are struggling daily, the 58% of the population who recent estimates show to be living in poverty in oil rich Guyana, those for whom the minimum wage remains at $60,147 per month, those public sector workers who will not see any wage increase, this claim does not match our reality.

It is one thing to make these grand claims. But what we need to see is how this breaks down at a grassroots level for those who this people’s budget is supposedly meant to prioritise.

Let us just take one group, pensioners, among the most vulnerable in our society. We are told that this group is about 91,000 persons. According to the finally released preliminary Census report, this is close to 10% of the population. It was announced in the budget that the old age pension will be increased by the grand sum of G$5,000, from $41,000 to $46,000 per month, effective January 1, 2026. Additionally, pensioners will be provided with a transportation grant of $20,000, an electricity grant equivalent to $30,000 per year (based on our own experience of bills, that covers an average and basic light bill for approximately three and a half months) and a water subsidy.

These figures are being presented by the government as meaningful relief for which we should be grateful. The few at the top don’t have to consider how this holds up against a sharply rising cost of living. The few at the top don’t have to count their money when they go to the market, as we did today for example, when we got four green plantains for $880.00, $220.00 for each (let us put this $5,000 increase into perspective, it will buy about 24 green plantains). The few at the top don’t have to deal with the fare the taxi driver called, $2,000.00 for a drop from Stabroek Market to Campbellville (if you call a taxi from home, it runs about $1200-$1500).

Stabroek News has been running a cost of living series and we have also issued several letters and statements comparing earnings in oil rich Guyana with basic expenditure to make the case for a living wage. All of this has clearly fallen on deaf ears. So let us go again, for those sitting comfortably in what really should be the people’s parliament, those in parliament who have the gall to tell us about a people’s budget.

Below we break down the cost of weekly meals for an old age pensioner, who we are told should now be grateful to the government for increasing their pensions by the grand sum of $5,000.00. This budget below is based on prices in Georgetown – in the interior the prices will be higher.

Case for old age pensioner

 $46,000 per month is the equivalent of $1,500 per day or $11,500 per week. 

Here is what $11,500 can provide in meals for a week – and this is for just breakfast and lunch.   

Weekly Budget for two meals/day
BREAKFAST
One loaf of bread (quality whole wheat)	$460
Four eggs	$200
1 pack of milk	$860
I pound sugar	$120
1 small pack milo	$440
LUNCH
Four pints rice	$800
1 small bottle oil	$860
4 lbs. chicken	$2240
1 lb. blackeye peas	$500
1 lb. cabbage	$400
3 small heads pakchoy	$600
3 bundles bora (12 strings)	$1000
1 lb. potatoes	$160
1 tin tomato paste	$240
1 lb. onion	$300
½ lb. garlic	$200
8 cubes	$200
5 Gallon water (refill)	$260
5-6 oranges	$1000
TOTAL	$11,380

 This is the cost for a week. Four eggs and one loaf of bread has to work for the week. And this budget is just for breakfast and lunch. There is no additional money for dinner. So the budget above has to stretch for twenty-one meals. Make it make sense.

We are not counting transportation – for which there is a $20,000 annual grant – or lights or water (for which we are told there is a subsidy). But we will note that many pensioners have to make regular medical clinic visits, for which they have to find a return fare. The $46,000 that is now allocated to pensioners is fully budgeted for meals. Where are pensioners to find rent, phone, basic necessities (toilet paper, soap etc.), additional money for transportation and utilities? Many pensioners also need assistance at home – where are they to find money for the caregiving they may need at home, work that as usual ends up being unwaged and falls mainly on women? And many pensioners do not live with family members or even have family members they can rely on regularly.

We invite readers to do the weekly math for those on public assistance (this includes people with disabilities who face mobility challenges, limited job opportunities, higher medical costs, some requiring extensive if not round the clock care). In this case the grand increase is $3,000, moving monthly public assistance from $22,000 to $25,000! Divide that by four and then try taking $6,250 to the market to find food for a week.

This is not compassion. This is blatant neglect ad eyepass.

The message is clear, this budget continues and deepens poverty and dependency. The 2026 budget is called ‘Putting People First,’ but the question we should ask is, which People are coming first? There are those who stand to benefit handsomely from the big infrastructure contracts (paying people the same starvation wages at the bottom, with no transparency in awarding contracts, and with roads and bridges and hospitals and schools breaking down and leaking and more, calling for new contracts for big ones all over again).

And then there are the rest of us who keep being told to wait. It’s clear who was at the table making these decisions. Calling this budget “pro-poor” is not only dishonest, it is a slap in the face of ordinary Guyanese catching their hand, trying to find a way. This budget should be called Penalizing Poor People, or Punishing Poor People, because to be clear, that is what it does. Who feels it knows it.

Sincerely,

Wintress White

Susan Collymore

Halima Khan

Roshawna Pilgrim

Maeve Ramsay

Joy Marcus

Vanessa Ross, pensioner

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• budget, Letters, Penalizing, poor people, Wintress White

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