Click to view full size

Gov­ern­ment is not rul­ing out with­draw­ing from the Her­itage and Sta­bil­i­sa­tion Fund (HSF) if rev­enue falls short of its $55.36 bil­lion pro­jec­tion for 2026.

The Op­po­si­tion has ques­tioned the Gov­ern­ment’s use of US$73.25 per bar­rel as its bench­mark oil price for the 2026 Bud­get, but Fi­nance Min­is­ter Dav­en­dranath Tan­coo says the fis­cal plan al­ready ac­counts for fluc­tu­a­tions in glob­al prices.

Speak­ing to re­porters at C3 Cen­tre, Ste Madeleine yes­ter­day, Tan­coo said Gov­ern­ment has sev­er­al fi­nanc­ing mech­a­nisms avail­able and would op­er­ate with­in its fis­cal con­straints. If a with­draw­al from the HSF be­comes nec­es­sary, it will be done with­in the law, he added, re­mind­ing jour­nal­ists that the Fund was cre­at­ed to pro­vide bud­getary sup­port when need­ed.