The Leader of the Opposition, Ralph Gonsalves, expressed severe concerns regarding the 2026 budget deficit, characterising the financial estimates as “treading water dangerously and gasping for breath”. Gonsalves highlighted a “headline number” of a $15.5 million budget deficit on the current account. He argued that the combined current account deficits of those four crisis years did not amount to the deficit presented in this single budget year. Amortization and Sinking Fund: He pointed out that one must add $270.9 million for amortization (principal debt payments) and sinking fund contributions to the current deficit. Total Shortfall: He calculated that before even addressing capital expenditure, the government has a hole of approximately $411.4 million to address,.