Andrea Perez-Sobers
Senior Reporter
andrea.perez-sobers@guardian.co.tt
The Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute (TTTI) has raised concerns about the Government’s ability to maintain transparency and accountability in public spending through Budget 2027, warning that changes to procurement legislation could weaken safeguards at a time when billions of dollars are being allocated to public projects.
In a report on the $63.368 billion Budget presented by Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo on October 12, the institute questioned whether citizens would have sufficient access to information about how public funds are allocated, how contractors are selected and what is ultimately delivered.
While acknowledging that a national budget is a plan rather than a record of results, TTTI argued that its value to citizens depends on their ability to follow public money from allocation to expenditure and, ultimately, tangible outcomes.
“The central question for Budget 2027 is whether citizens can adequately scrutinise these decisions, and see who benefits from them,” the institute declared.
The assessment comes against the background of a mixed budget package, with the Government introducing concessions and increased benefits in some areas while imposing additional taxes and charges in others.
Among the measures announced by Tancoo were a $250 increase in senior citizens’ pensions and other grants, a reduction in taxation on locally produced alcohol and an increase in the foreign exchange threshold to US$10,000.
Tancoo described the Budget as the next phase of the Government’s national agenda, with a focus on attracting investment, expanding production, creating employment and strengthening economic resilience.
“We recognise that much remains to be done,” he declared in Parliament.
“Progress must be accelerated, implementation strengthened and results felt more directly in citizens’ homes and communities.”
However, for TTTI, the question is not simply how much the Government intends to spend, but whether the public will be able to monitor the decisions behind that expenditure, particularly following amendments to the procurement legislation in 2026.
Procurement safeguards weakened
The institute considers public procurement one of the most important areas of public financial management because it is where public money intersects with private commercial interests.
A strong procurement framework is necessary to ensure that contracts are awarded fairly, contractors are selected on merit, taxpayers receive value for money, and independent oversight bodies can identify irregularities before public funds are committed.
TTTI has long advocated for effective procurement legislation, but it believes the 2026 amendments materially weaken the safeguards established under the existing framework.
The amendments exempt energy-sector procurement, national security, public-private partnerships for public housing, and emergency purchases from the Act.
They also raise the threshold for purchases that senior officials can make outside the Act’s normal requirements from $1 million to $2 million.
Another significant change concerns the Office of Procurement Regulation (OPR). Under the amendments, recommendations made by the OPR following investigations become advisory rather than binding, removing its ability to halt a potentially flawed contract award before an agreement is signed.
TTTI warned that these changes shift the procurement system away from preventing problems and towards identifying them after public money has already been spent.
The institute acknowledged that the budget statement presented the amendments as a response to delays in project implementation, with the Government citing a review which identified procurement as a major impediment to project delivery.
However, it cautioned that improving the pace of public projects must not come at the expense of transparency, oversight and accountability.
“Where discretion increases, transparency must increase with it,” TTTI declared.
The institute is calling on the Government to publish the review cited in the budget statement so that citizens can examine the reasons for delays and distinguish between problems arising from procurement requirements and those linked to project preparation, funding releases or administrative capacity.
It also raised concerns about the absence of an estimate of how much public expenditure will fall outside the procurement legislation as a result of the amendments.
Without that information, citizens will have limited ability to assess the extent to which public spending is being removed from the normal procurement oversight framework.
TTTI welcomed the increased allocations for the OPR, from $40 million to $50 million, and the Office of the Auditor General, from $39.8 million to $56.6 million.
However, it cautioned that additional funding alone would not resolve weaknesses in the system if the institutions responsible for oversight lacked the authority to intervene effectively.
The institute also welcomed the proposed requirement for foreign investors to disclose their beneficial ownership and the Ministry of Finance’s consideration of an annual Fiscal Strategy Statement.
It said such a statement would provide greater information on the Government’s fiscal assumptions, projected debt trajectory and the risks facing the national economy.
TTTI is urging the Government to implement the beneficial ownership disclosure requirements promptly and establish a firm date for the publication of the first Fiscal Strategy Statement.
Development spending under scrutiny
The institute’s examination of the Budget figures also raised questions about the Government’s ability to translate approved allocations into completed projects.
Particular attention was drawn to the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP), which finances capital expenditure on infrastructure and public services, including roads, schools, hospitals and drainage.
When Parliament approved Budget 2026, the development programme received an allocation of $4.1 billion.
However, the revised estimate for 2026, published in the Budget 2027 Estimates, was reduced to $2.85 billion.
Tancoo has indicated that approximately $3 billion was spent, “though bills are still coming in”.
The difference between the original allocation and the revised estimate amounts to approximately $1.25 billion, representing almost one-third of the amount initially approved for development projects.
TTTI stressed that unspent allocations do not necessarily represent lost money, but they can indicate that projects anticipated by citizens have been delayed, reduced in scope or never started.
The institute argued that the revised estimates do not adequately explain why the allocation was reduced or identify the projects responsible for the shortfall.
Citizens, it believes, should be able to determine which projects were affected, the reasons for the changes and whether those projects have been transferred into the 2027 programme.
The development programme has been allocated $4 billion in Budget 2027, almost the same amount originally approved for 2026.
The institute also pointed out that underutilisation of development allocations is not a new problem.
Official reports recorded utilisation of revised allocations at 68.4 per cent in 2018 and 67.9 per cent in 2021.
For TTTI, these figures reinforce the need for greater public reporting on project implementation, particularly as the Government seeks to accelerate spending while operating under a procurement framework with fewer safeguards.
The revenue projections also require greater scrutiny.
Budget 2027 projects total revenue of approximately $59.7 billion, about $5.5 billion more than the revised 2026 estimate of $54.2 billion.
TTTI estimates that roughly three-quarters of this increase depends on property income, mainly energy royalties and payments from state enterprises.
Property income was originally budgeted at $12.9 billion in 2026, but the revised estimate is approximately $8.5 billion.
For 2027, the Government is projecting property income of $12.7 billion, almost returning to the original 2026 target.
The most significant movement is expected from payments by state enterprises, which are projected to increase from $1.9 billion to $4.4 billion.
However, the institute pointed out that the Estimates do not identify which state enterprises are expected to make these contributions or the basis on which the projected amounts have been calculated.
It argued that greater disclosure is particularly important because state enterprises are publicly owned and citizens are entitled to understand the financial expectations placed on them.
The absence of this information also raises questions about transparency in the energy sector, particularly with energy procurement now among the areas exempted from the procurement legislation.
Investment map must be delivered
TTTI is of the view that the Government already has access to tools that could significantly improve public monitoring of capital expenditure and project implementation.
It pointed to the Inter-American Development Bank’s MapaInversiones, or Investment Map, initiative, through which countries including Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru and Costa Rica provide online platforms allowing citizens to track public investment.
These platforms provide information on budget allocations, expenditure, physical progress and contracts associated with public projects.
T&T joined the initiative, and the IDB previously listed the country’s platform as being in development, with a public launch expected in 2024.
However, TTTI indicated that it could not find a public update on the platform’s status.
The institute is therefore calling on the Government to explain the progress made and establish a date for its launch.
It stated that the platform could provide citizens with a more accessible way to monitor whether public projects are progressing, how much money has been spent, and which institutions are responsible for delivery.
Until the platform becomes operational, TTTI is urging the Government to publish quarterly reports on major projects, detailing allocations, payments, contract variations, physical progress and the institutions responsible for implementation.
The institute has also outlined six recommendations aimed at strengthening transparency and accountability in the management of public funds.
It wants all contract awards published within 30 days, including contracts granted under exemptions or below the new procurement thresholds. The disclosures should identify the supplier, contract value, procurement method and the basis for selecting the contractor.
