-President Ali says, dismisses APNU/WIN’s efforts to ‘deliberately mislead’ citizens
REJECTING opposition rhetoric that Budget 2026 neglects ordinary Guyanese, President Dr. Irfaan Ali said the APNU/ WIN collective is “deliberately misleading” the public, and ignoring the billions of dollars in tax relief, social support and cash transfers that will be going directly to citizens.
In a video aired on his official Facebook page, President Ali said the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government has consistently acted in the interest of all Guyanese, pointing to job creation, social services measures and sweeping tax relief including the removal of 200 taxes imposed on Guyanese by the previous APNU+AFC administration.
“It is the PPP/C government that has consistently stood with the Guyanese people, whether it’s sugar cane farmers, the sugar workers, the rice farmers, the miners, the bauxite workers,” President Ali said while highlighting the economic devastation from 2015-2020.
It was highlighted that in Region 10 while the former APNU+AFC administration led the bauxite sector downwards with nearly 800 jobs being lost, the PPP/C government brought back almost 1,000 new jobs.
Dr. Ali then pointed to the restoration of the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant for schoolchildren, which had been taken away by the APNU+AFC. He emphasised that these reversals were driven by concern for working families.
“Every single people’s Progressive Party/Civic Budget benefits the people, because it is for the people. And let us look at budget 2026… to say that the budget has nothing for the ordinary Guyanese is to ignore the measures that are clearly outlined in the budget speech,” President Ali said, as he once again dismissed the “parroting” from the parliamentary opposition regarding Budget 2026.
Dr. Ali said that both APNU and WIN are exposing their agenda, which is to derail Guyana’s development.
The opposition’s claim that the budget does not benefit ordinary Guyanese collapses under even basic scrutiny.
Among the major measures in Budget 2026 as highlighted by President Ali is the increase in the low-income mortgage ceiling. He noted that when a homeowner has their own home, it can be used as collateral to accelerate wealth creation.
Further, the housing improvement subsidy of $7.5 billion that is included in the government’s fiscal plan will directly support the housing needs and home improvement of the vulnerable segment of our population.
President Ali pointed to the reduction in VAT on various types of vehicles, making vehicle ownership easier.
“We have made it easier for the ordinary family to own a vehicle, the reduction… on various types of vehicles, various initiatives to ease the cost of living, including the maintenance of 0 per cent excise tax on petroleum products [which] alone will cost over $100 billion. The freight charges to the pre-pandemic level that is billions of dollars of investment,” the President said.
The continuous support for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams, which sees the government paying for up to eight subjects per child, is another initiative the President highlighted.
More than $54 billion will be directed to pensioners through pension increases and transport support, the President noted.
“We have the increase in stipends for the pathway workers, the community enhancement workers, the community support services workers, the annual bonus that we give to our men and women in uniform, the increase in the stipend for community policing groups, the payment of the $100,000 cash grant that alone is $60 billion of cash transfer to the people of this country, the removal of net property tax, the increase in income tax threshold that will put more money in our workers pockets,” Dr. Ali added, noting that these are measures that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
