Historic $1.5 Trillion budget fails to translate rapid petroleum wealth into social and environmental equity, new intersection – Feminist analysis finds

Jun 14, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – Guyana’s 2026 National Budget of approximately GYD$1.558 trillion represents the largest financial blueprint in the nation’s history, yet its massive spending allocations remain largely gender-neutral and fail to address deep structural inequalities.

An intersectional feminist budget analysis titled “Gender, Health and Environmental Justice in Guyana’s 2026 National Budget Key Findings from an Intersectional Feminist Budget Analysis,” prepared by Tamùkke Feminists, reveals that while the nation’s transition into a resource-financed development model has vastly expanded fiscal capacity, economic transformation is rapidly outpacing social transformation.

The national budget saw a massive 36% increase over a two-year period, skyrocketing from GYD$1.146 trillion in 2024 to GYD$1.382 trillion in 2025, before climbing to its current peak in 2026. This rapid expansion, driven by petroleum revenues and Natural Resource Fund (NRF) transfers, has removed resource scarcity as Guyana’s primary fiscal constraint. However, researchers argue the central policy question is no longer whether Guyana is spending more, but whether this increased capacity produces equitable development outcomes across different social groups.

The report highlights that current public expenditure decisions heavily favour infrastructure modernization and treatment over systematic risk reduction for women, Indigenous communities, rural populations and persons with disabilities.

THE HEALTH SECTOR

Public health allocations rose 24% over two years, moving from GYD$129.8 billion in 2024 to GYD$143.2 billion in 2025, and hitting GYD$161.1 billion in 2026.

HEALTH SECTOR BUDGET GROWTH (2024–2026)

Major investments within this sector include:

• GYD$34.9 billion for drugs and medical supplies
• GYD$3.7 billion for the Guyana Medical Emergency Authority (GEMA)
• GYD$1 billion for health sciences training complexes
• GYD$764 million for the Electronic Health Records system rollout

The analysis shows a strict prioritization of hospital infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, specialized treatment capacity, and emergency response systems. International health systems research warns that improvements in tertiary care do not automatically translate into equitable health outcomes without parallel investments in preventive and community-based care.

This infrastructure-heavy focus exacerbates geographic barriers. Coastal regions, where major hospitals are concentrated, absorb the primary benefits of these investments. Meanwhile, hinterland communities face severe transportation limitations, long travel distances, and acute shortages of specialized services. For Indigenous women and rural populations, this disparity translates directly into delayed prenatal care, reduced access to reproductive services, and elevated maternal health risks.

DIVERGENT DISEASE SPENDING

Shifting national priorities are clearly illustrated by looking closely at disease-specific allocations. Funding to combat communicable diseases declined by about 8%, dropping from GYD$8.61 billion in 2024 to GYD$7.90 billion in 2026. This reduction raises alarm bells given Guyana’s ongoing infectious disease burden, which included over 24,000 malaria cases recorded in 2024, heavily concentrated in interior mining regions where environmental disruption increases exposure. From an intersectional lens, cutting this funding disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations, including Indigenous communities, mining workers, and mobile populations.

Conversely, spending on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) surged from GYD$2.63 billion in 2024 to over GYD$10 billion by 2026 to support cancer screenings, hypertension treatment, and diabetes management for an aging population.

REPRODUCTIVE AND DISABILITY RIGHTS

Reproductive health equity remains highly uneven. While Family and Primary Health Care Services, covering maternal health, immunization, adolescent health, and environmental health, increased from GYD$4.05 billion in 2024 to GYD$4.99 billion in 2026, severe spatial gaps persist. Although the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act provides a legal framework for abortion access, actual services remain heavily concentrated in coastal hospitals. For hinterland women, high transportation costs and geographic isolation effectively block them from exercising their legal rights.

Disability spending also grew from GYD$1.18 billion in 2024 to over GYD$2 billion in 2026. However, the budget trends show an emphasis on welfare transfers and assistive devices rather than structural inclusion measures, such as building accessible public infrastructure or executing employment integration.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL SECTOR

A worrying trend was identified in environmental management funding, which fluctuated wildly from GYD$1.95 billion in 2024 up to GYD$4.83 billion in 2025, before plummeting down to GYD$2.91 billion in 2026. This instability indicates that environmental protection spending remains project-driven rather than institutionally embedded.

This decline occurs alongside a structural imbalance: the state is rapidly expanding petroleum production and extractive industries while failing to expand environmental oversight proportionally. The consequences are acute in the gold mining sectors of Regions 1, 7, 8, and 9. The ongoing use of mercury in small and medium-scale gold mining operations contaminates local rivers and aquatic ecosystems. Mercury bioaccumulates in fish, the primary protein source for riverine communities, creating devastating long-term health hazards.

The report highlights a clear case study from the South Rupununi village of Parabara, where testing on Indigenous residents revealed that 100% of participants sampled had elevated mercury levels, with some of the highest concentrations recorded among women. Due to traditional roles in food preparation and caregiving, women face disproportionate exposure risks, demonstrating how Indigenous identity, gender, geography, and economic marginalization intersect to shape vulnerability. Furthermore, institutional coordination gaps left communities uncertain about follow-up medical care, proving a systemic disconnect between environmental monitoring and the public health response.

Climate and disaster preparedness spending did see aggressive growth, jumping from GYD$38.3 billion in 2024 to GYD$73.7 billion in 2026, alongside an increase in hydrometeorological services from GYD$766.3 million to GYD$957.7 million. However, this spending focused heavily on defending physical infrastructure (sea defenses, drainage, and flood control) rather than reducing social vulnerability. Without direct investments in community adaptation, climate shocks shift hidden costs onto unpaid household labor, as women bear the primary burdens of caregiving and household recovery during environmental disasters.

SYSTEMIC GAPS

The analysis highlights three interconnected structural gaps in Guyana’s current public expenditure system: the distributional gap, the prevention gap, and the inclusion gap.

The distributional gap is defined by access to services that continue to reflect longstanding spatial inequalities. Hinterland regions face long travel distances, high transport costs, and under-resourced primary facilities. Because there are no geographically targeted allocation mechanisms in place, these existing inequalities are allowed to persist even within the country’s expanding fiscal system.

The prevention gap arises because response and treatment are consistently prioritized over structural risk mitigation. Massive investments in pharmaceuticals, hospitals, and emergency services heavily dwarf investments in community-based primary healthcare, reproductive access, and comprehensive sexuality education. Similarly, in the environmental sector, infrastructure spending overrides funding for routine mercury testing and environmental regulation, which ultimately shifts the burden of managing health and sanitation risks onto unpaid female caregivers.

Finally, the inclusion gap leaves marginalized groups largely invisible within budget structures and expenditure reporting frameworks. Programs like the Amerindian Development Fund and carbon credit transfers lack transparency regarding gendered and intra-community inequalities. Certain sections of women in Guyana face severely unequal access to healthcare, low sexual health knowledge, and intense institutional stigma, particularly for those who present as male. This systemic exclusion is further worsened by a complete lack of comprehensive sexuality education and an absence of disaggregated data collection.

POLICY ROLES & AUDITED RECOMMENDATIONS

To correct this trajectory and ensure that oil revenues are utilized as an active tool for equity and environmental justice, the policy brief outlines critical responsibilities for state institutions and civil society:

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is responsible to institutionalize Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) and establish a dedicated GRB Unit by 2027. It must introduce gender and equity tagging within the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) to track target expenditures. Additionally, the MoF is required to ensure all ministries include equity impact statements in Budget Circular submissions and report outcomes in Programme Performance Statements, as well as publish an annual Gender and Equity Budget Statement alongside the national budget.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) must expand primary healthcare services, mobile clinics, and telemedicine in Regions 1, 7, 8, and 9. It is also tasked with ensuring reproductive health services and maternal waiting homes are geographically accessible beyond Regions 3 and 4. Furthermore, the MoH must integrate routine environmental health surveillance into public health reporting and introduce Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) & Ministry of Natural Resources are charged with establishing continuous, national air and water quality monitoring networks. They must implement routine mercury testing programs in mining regions and strictly link EPA data to public health response systems, while strengthening the enforcement of environmental regulations in extractive zones.

Civil Society & Grassroots Organizations are expected to participate actively in budget consultations and monitoring frameworks. They must also support community-level data collection, policy advocacy, and accountability mechanisms.

Indigenous Community Leaders are responsible for representing community interests in environmental governance. They must secure direct climate adaptation funding for Indigenous village councils and ensure meaningful participation in the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

This research concludes with four pressing policy recommendations for the Guyana government. First, to facilitate transparent tracking of how public spending affects various populations, future national budgets must include gender-disaggregated and intersectional data systems. Second, in order to guarantee equitable reproductive healthcare, especially for women in Region 3 and hinterland areas, access to reliable abortion services needs to be extended beyond Regions 4 and 6. Third, in order to address enduring gaps in sexual health knowledge, bodily autonomy, and preventative care, particularly among young people and marginalised groups, Comprehensive Sexuality Education must be adopted and implemented nationally. Additionally, the government should institutionalize participatory budgeting processes to ensure marginalized communities have a direct role in shaping public expenditure priorities. Lastly, the state must commit to a specific and quantifiable environmental goal, especially in terms of enhancing environmental monitoring and lowering health hazards related to extractive sectors.

The analysis concludes with a warning: Guyana stands at a historic crossroads with the financial means to erase generational development gaps. However, if growth-oriented infrastructure spending continues to outpace targeted social redistribution, the country risks achieving rapid economic transformation without any equivalent social transformation. Strategic and equitable distribution remains the nation’s true challenge.

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• Feminist analysis, Guyana’s 2026 National Budget, petroleum wealth, social and environmental equity, Tammuke

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