An­drea Perez-Sobers

Se­nior Re­porter

an­drea.perez-sobers@guardian.co.tt

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has hint­ed that the 2027 fis­cal bud­get ex­er­cise could be­gin in Oc­to­ber, telling new­ly ap­point­ed per­ma­nent sec­re­taries that their lead­er­ship will be vi­tal as Gov­ern­ment en­ters the next phase of bud­get prepa­ra­tion.

No of­fi­cial date has been an­nounced for the pre­sen­ta­tion of the 2027 fis­cal bud­get.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar made the com­ments yes­ter­day while ad­dress­ing the per­ma­nent sec­re­taries at a spe­cial lun­cheon held in their ho­n­our.

She point­ed to the months ahead, in­clud­ing the Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee and Bud­get de­bates, as a ma­jor ex­er­cise re­quir­ing close co­or­di­na­tion be­tween min­is­ters and the pub­lic ser­vice.

“And I know you per­ma­nent sec­re­taries al­ready have been work­ing to put the bud­get doc­u­ments to­geth­er, to put your pro­pos­als for your min­istry, and that ex­er­cise will take us all in­to Oc­to­ber,” she said.

The Prime Min­is­ter stressed the need for min­is­ters to have ac­cu­rate and com­pre­hen­sive in­for­ma­tion on their min­istries be­fore fac­ing Par­lia­ment.

“Min­is­ters must be prop­er­ly briefed with ac­cu­rate, time­ly and com­pre­hen­sive in­for­ma­tion on the pro­grammes un­der your min­istry, un­der your min­is­ters, your ex­pen­di­ture, your projects, your tar­gets and per­for­mance.”

She al­so raised con­cerns about de­lays in an­swer­ing par­lia­men­tary ques­tions.

“We have to an­swer ques­tions in Par­lia­ment, so we can’t pull it out of a hat and make up some­thing,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar told the per­ma­nent sec­re­taries.

She said min­is­ters were some­times told that par­lia­men­tary ques­tions had been re­ceived, but re­spons­es were not com­ing in on time.

“When we stand in that Par­lia­ment to an­swer those ques­tions, we are ac­count­ing to the peo­ple.”

Per­sad-Bisses­sar re­mind­ed the Per­ma­nent Sec­re­taries that part of their re­spon­si­bil­i­ty was help­ing min­is­ters pro­vide ac­cu­rate an­swers.

“And part of your role is to help us to give an ac­cu­rate ac­count of what­ev­er it is that we are be­ing asked.”

She called for stronger co­or­di­na­tion be­tween per­ma­nent sec­re­taries, min­is­ters and par­lia­men­tary sec­re­taries to pre­vent un­nec­es­sary de­lays and im­prove de­liv­ery.

The Prime Min­is­ter al­so cau­tioned the per­ma­nent sec­re­taries against treat­ing the Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee as sim­ply an ac­count­ing ex­er­cise.

“The Stand­ing Fi­nance Com­mit­tee is not mere­ly an ac­count­ing ex­er­cise. Re­mem­ber that. It is an op­por­tu­ni­ty to demon­strate re­spon­si­ble stew­ard­ship of pub­lic funds in a na­tion­al in­ter­est.”

Last year, Fi­nance Min­is­ter Dav­en­dranath Tan­coo pre­sent­ed the 2026 fis­cal bud­get on Oc­to­ber 13.

The $59.232 bil­lion pack­age in­clud­ed al­lo­ca­tions for Gov­ern­ment min­istries and projects, in­creas­es in penal­ties and fines and a $1 re­duc­tion in the price of Su­per gaso­line.

It al­so in­clud­ed mea­sures aimed at ful­fill­ing sev­er­al cam­paign promis­es of the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress Gov­ern­ment.