AS the last, ragged hours of 2025 tick away and global newsrooms line up their horror reels of war, disaster and scandal, we in Guyana must tune out the noisy trivialities that clutter our social media feeds and reach instead for the very real opportunities now coming to our doorsteps. Minister Ashni Singh has promised that Budget 2026 will be built around long‑term economic infrastructure, deliberately shifting spending away from consumption toward investments that support competitiveness and growth.

Budget 2026 is expected to be the main vehicle that will deliver key promises outlined in the PPP/C’s 2025 manifesto, which includes major roadworks, a deep‑water port, new hospitals, 40,000 homes, 100 additional schools, a Development Bank and an anti‑corruption unit.
If you’ve grown accustomed to that familiar dread whenever your monthly GPL bill arrives, and that’s before you even confront the strain of finding the thousands of dollars to pay it, relief is on the horizon. With engineering works nearly complete, procurement over 90 per cent, and crews working around the clock, the Wales gas-to-energy project is racing to meet its mid‑2026 deadline, offering the promise of more affordable and reliable electricity for households and businesses alike.

Uaru, the fifth offshore development in the Stabroek Block, is expected to begin production in 2026, bringing oil production capacity to approximately 1.1 million barrels per day, and cementing Guyana’s status as the world’s leading oil producer per capita and an emerging energy power with the means to expand its national wealth and long‑term development prospects rapidly. The long-awaited Linden to Lethem highway is expected to be completed in 2026. The spinal column for national integration and usable year-round, it will improve trade by giving Guyanese businesses access to some 20 million people in north-eastern Brazil. It will boost Guyana’s eco-tourism products and cut travel time by more than 12 hours.

The highway will unlock economic opportunities and improve the lives of thousands of people in hinterland communities, making it cheaper to move produce, construction materials and fuel between the coast and the Rupununi. The spin-off benefits of this all-weather corridor are mind-boggling. Shipping, warehousing, agri-processing and a host of other logistics and service industries will transform the interior into a dynamic hub of economic activity.

Guyana’s zero‑interest Development Bank has the potential to do for local small and micro‑entrepreneurs what Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank did for people once written off as “unbankable” into a powerful engine of growth, jobs and social mobility. President Ali has said that the Development Bank will democratise credit in a way that permanently shifts national wealth creation from a narrow corporate base to tens of thousands of ordinary Guyanese.
There has been a wealthy, entitled pretender to political leadership who has spent weeks hurling baseless smears at Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, without offering a single shred of proof. In 2026, that same minister will be busy doing real work: introducing special incentives for agri‑value chains and cold‑storage facilities, opening up 100,000 acres of new farmland, and ramping up large‑scale corn and soya production to cut feed imports and save the economy tens of millions of US dollars. As Guyana’s food production grows, the ministry’s roll‑out of climate‑smart, tech‑driven agriculture will help farmers in real-time to build more resilient production systems that can better withstand abnormal weather, pests, floods and droughts.
For expectant parents worried about the health of their unborn child, the specialised Paediatric and Maternal Hospital at Ogle is expected to be commissioned in 2026. It will focus on advanced maternal and child care, a first-of-its-kind facility in the Caribbean. There are still six more regional hospitals to be commissioned, providing CT scans, modern operating theatres and 24/7 emergency departments.
A few days ago, 500 nursing assistants graduated from a special hybrid programme. It was heartening to discover, directly from the mouth of the Minister of Health, that every single one of them who desires to work will have a job waiting for them.
This administration will continue to support families with school-aged children in 2026 through major cash and transport grants tied to schooling. Every child will have a secondary school place this coming year, with 100 new and fully rebuilt schools, on the coast and in the hinterland, to come on stream in 2026.

Each child will be receiving a Because We Care cash grant of $100,000 per year, plus another $100,000 annual transportation grant, putting over $40 billion into parents’ hands while breaking down the cost barrier to education. So, as 2025 exhales its last breath, it is worth remembering that a country is not built on staged outrage, but on power plants, highways, hospitals, schools and the quiet courage of people who use them to change their lives.

In 2026, Guyanese will have more than enough real progress to occupy their collective attention; the only question is whether we will lift our eyes from the noise long enough to claim it for ourselves.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.