Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo delivered a $59.2 billion budget on October 13, 2025, under the theme "T&T First - Building Economic Fairness through Accountable Fiscal Policies." It was the UNC government's first full budget after winning the April 2025 elections.
The budget was built on five strategic pillars, from restoring fiscal stability to modernising infrastructure and protecting the vulnerable. It made dozens of specific commitments - some with hard deadlines, some with fuzzy timelines, and a few that have since vanished from public discussion entirely.
We are now at the halfway mark of fiscal 2026. This is what the scorecard looks like.
The Hard Deadlines
The most testable commitments are the ones with dates. Two of them have now expired.
The Port of Spain General Hospital Central Block was to be "operationalised by March 2026." It was not. The new date is June 2026, pushed back after a broken pipeline flooded the electrical bus duct system in January. The Health Minister publicly disagreed with UDeCOTT's claim of 90% completion, saying the facility "appeared far less complete." The original project was approved in 2017 at $1.3 billion.
A $1 billion National Investment Fund bond, backed by the government's First Citizens shares, was to be issued by Q2 - meaning March 31, 2026. The bond has not been issued. A Guardian analysis found the underlying arithmetic is fragile: the government's 31.7 million First Citizens shares at $34.99 per share total approximately $1.11 billion, which provides thin coverage for a $1 billion instrument and leaves little margin if the share price declines.
The EU tax blacklist removal was expected by February 2026. February has passed. There has been no public confirmation that Trinidad and Tobago has been removed.
Two hundred and fifty new IRD officers were to be recruited by February 2026. No public update on whether this happened.
The Fuzzy Commitments
Other promises carried fiscal-year timelines - by September 2026 - which makes them harder to assess at the midpoint but not impossible to track.
The 10% public sector wage increase was framed as "negotiations to begin this fiscal year." Talks have been announced but no agreement has been reached. Public servants remain on decade-old salary scales.
The Sangre Grande Hospital was to be "commissioned this fiscal year." No public progress report has been issued.
A state-sponsored Real Estate Investment Trust was announced in the budget. It has vanished from public discussion. No structure, no timeline, no further mention.
An asset-based levy projected to yield $575 million annually was introduced. No Q1 collection data has been published.
The Big Numbers
The budget allocated $626.84 million for Caribbean Airlines loan principal repayment - more than triple the $200.8 million in 2025. It also set aside $70 million for the CAL airbridge subsidy. These allocations are being spent, but without audited financials from CAL, the public has no way to assess whether the money is achieving anything beyond debt servicing.
The government eliminated the CEPEP and URP programmes - which collectively employed over 30,000 people - and announced a drive for 20,000 permanent government positions. Over 110,000 people applied. As of Q1 2026, the number actually hired has not been published. In Port of Spain, 500 former CEPEP and URP workers were replaced by 12 staff.
A $475 million Employment Fund and a $310 million Unemployment Fund were created. Whether either is being disbursed is unknown.
What the Budget Did Not Say
An Express columnist counted 296 uses of the word "will" in the budget statement and four uses of "intends." The distinction matters. "Will" implies commitment. "Intends" hedges. But neither creates accountability without follow-through.
The budget presented several ongoing projects initiated under the previous PNM administration as new UNC achievements. The UNCTAD/ASYCUDA customs partnership, for instance, is a long-standing United Nations initiative, not a new programme. The South Oropouche River Basin flood mitigation project is an existing UWI/Adaptation Fund initiative.
The IMF, in its Article IV concluding statement in February 2026, projected GDP growth of just 0.7% for the year. Major professional services firms - EY, PwC, and Republic Bank - each published budget analyses that were cautiously worded about the assumptions underlying the fiscal projections.
The Scorecard
At the halfway mark, two hard deadlines have been missed, two major fiscal instruments have not materialised, and the delivery status of most other commitments is either unknown or unreported.
This does not mean the budget has failed. Several initiatives - the wage negotiations, the migrant registration framework, some infrastructure projects - are in motion. But "in motion" is not the same as "delivered," and a budget that uses the word "will" 296 times has set its own standard.
The second half of fiscal 2026 will determine whether these commitments were plans or promises. The distinction is whether anyone is keeping count.
We are.