…warns promises will bust budget, still fall short
…says opposition misleading public with unrealistic proposals
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has once again called out A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) for making “extravagant” campaign promises, specifically the party’s proposed public sector salary hikes, which he noted are economically reckless, dishonest, and unsustainable.
During their campaign on July 6, party leader and presidential candidate Aubrey Norton proposed to spend an additional $400 billion in its first budget, should it be elected to office after the September 1, 2025, general and regional elections.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
He explained that of the $400 billion, $100 billion will be spent to raise salaries; $40 billion to raise the income tax threshold to $400,000; $53 billion to increase the old-age pension from $41,000 (current sum) to $100,000; $9 billion for the student stipend programme for tertiary institutions; and $25 billion for the childcare allowance programme. This, therefore, means that APNU will present a $1.33 trillion budget.
Addressing the proposal during his weekly press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo dismissed what he described as “wild, uncoordinated promises” that could push the national budget into a fiscal black hole, leaving no room for education, healthcare, infrastructure, or growth.
“So, one person (Aubrey Norton) on the campaign launch said we’ll give everyone a million dollars per year… So, if there are 600,000 of us, that will be $600 billion. Now, in the budget now, we have about $512 or $514 billion in oil money. So that’s more than all the oil money in the budget; that alone – one promise”.
“It’s designed to mislead people… They said they will give the public 35% immediately. So, they couldn’t mean 35% for the five years if they win… So, 35% per year. So, in 2026, our current budget for employment costs is $246 billion. So, if you give 35%, in the first year, 2026, it becomes $312 billion. In the second year, $448 billion, because you’re compounding. Third year, $605 billion. Fourth year, $817 billion. And by 2030, the end of your term, $1.1 trillion, only on wages.”
“Now we have half of that we are collecting as oil money. So that means you’re going to pay in wages alone in the public sector twice as much money as we have in the budget from the oil and gas sector and almost the entire 2025 budget. All of the money we have in the budget will go to wages. Nothing for anything else in the country. Nothing for education, nothing for health care, nothing for building roads, bridges, or anything else,” the Vice President explained.
Jagdeo further criticised APNU’s approach of basing promises on speculative oil revenues, warning that oil prices are volatile and cannot be the sole pillar of fiscal planning.
He cited the 2015 oil price crash when global prices fell from $120 to $30 a barrel, significantly affecting revenues.
“So, what if oil prices fall… say next year or this year? What are they going to do if you base the implementation of all your promises only on oil money? So, what happens when it goes? But let’s go to a practical example. In 2015, early 2015, oil prices moved from $120 a barrel to about $30 a barrel. And it – for the entire 2015 or so, it was around that level. So APNU saved nearly 400 million US dollars in the fuel import bill at that time because of lower prices. So, if oil prices were $100, they went to $80 and dropped to $60 now or somewhere there. What if it falls to $30 for two years? That’s $30 for two years, which has happened before… You can’t even implement the current promises, much less those of the APNU’s promises, much less build a whole campaign around something that is not certain,” he said.
The vice president described the opposition’s proposals as fiscally irresponsible and politically unserious, warning voters not to be swayed by “feel-good slogans” that have no foundation in reality.
“You have to be taken from a madhouse to make some of these promises. They are not just unsustainable – they are delusional,” Jagdeo said.
He also accused the APNU of allowing “any maverick” to take the stage and make up figures, in contrast to the PPP’s centralised and disciplined approach to manifesto development.
“Here in the PPP, we vet every promise. It goes through multiple reviews because we actually plan to implement them,” he said. “We’re generous – but we’re responsible.”
