C.D.B. to fund new projects

Officials of the Caribbean Development Bank today concluded a ten-day visit to Belize. The eleven-person team was led by acting C.D.B. Vice President Neville Grainger. Grainger and Minister of Economic Development Ralph Fonseca signed an aide memoire outlining broad areas of cooperation between the Bank and Belize. This will be followed within three months by a more detailed policy paper expected to cover some fifty million U.S. dollars in new project funding. At a morning press conference in Belmopan Fonseca praised the C.D.B. as an institution that never forgets that each of its client countries has a unique identity. For Belize, he said, the bank remains a crucial partner in development.

Ralph Fonseca, Minister of Economic Development

“It’s very important. Apart from the fact that they are the bank of record for the Caribbean, they are also a pool of consultants who bring us an unbiased opinion on how Belize is moving forward. They will tell us exactly as it is. Also the way that they react to us and what we are doing sends a signal to the rest of the international financial community as to how viable we are. And at the end of the day anyone, whether it is an investor or any other bank, will pick up the phone and call Caribbean Development Bank and ask them what they think about Belize before one invests or lends to Belize. So it is important for us to have a very good relationship.”

Between 1970 and 1998 the C.D.B. provided Belize’s public and private sector with 145 million U.S. dollars in loans, with 69 million now committed to ongoing projects. Among the bank’s largest current undertakings are the expansion of infrastructure for B.E.L. and paving of the Hummingbird Highway. Future areas of cooperation include education reform, construction of bridges and a road bypass around Orange Walk Town.