PM Says Blue Bond Performing on Target
It’s been two years since the Government of Belize bought back the super bond through a five hundred and fifty-three-million-dollar loan from The Nature Conservancy. This external commercial debt was negotiated at a discounted price of fifty-five cents per dollar of three hundred and sixty million dollars in debt forgiveness over the next twenty years. It also resulted in the reduction of about four hundred million Belize dollars in debt servicing and shared with the establishment of long- term financing for marine conservation. Today, the Office of the Prime Minister gave an update on how the debt is performing during a press conference at the Best Western Belize Biltmore Plaza Hotel. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.
Prime Minister John Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño
“In effect, we realized over $1.1 billion in savings for Belize and the Belizean people. Over the last two years, Belize has benefited from a payment plan that supports our national financial recovery, that has placed the government in a better position to support the country’s social and development programs. It has also allowed us to be in full compliance with our payment obligations. We have made payments of almost $15 million Belize towards the realization of key achievements in marine conservation.”
Marion Ali, Reporting
Since the government entered into a distinctive Blue Bond agreement in 2021 with The Nature Conservancy, Belize committed to spend roughly four million dollars a year on marine conservation until the year 2041. We also agreed to double our marine-protection parks, spanning coral reefs, mangroves, and the sea grasses where fish spawn, from fifteen point nine percent of our oceans to thirty percent by 2026. And according to the team, headed by Prime Minister John Briceño, we are on target.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“We have strengthened the management of mangroves and designated all remaining national lands within the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System World Heritage Site as mangrove reserves. We improved the legislative framework for the conservation and treatment of mangroves in development areas. Through the
Blue Bond, we have launched the marine spatial planning process for the development of the Belize Ocean Sustainable Ocean Plan. This plan is meant to provide us with a blueprint for blue economy development.”
Julie Robinson
Julie Robinson, Belize Country Program Director, The Nature Conservancy
“The first milestone was completed in, um, 2022, and that was an expansion of the biodiversity protection zones to 20.3%. The next milestone is due in November. of this year, um, which will take us to roughly 25 percent and then finally in 2026 in November will get us to the 30%. So these are things that are happening. There are multiple milestones that need to be reached, um, in order to, to, to meet all the commitments. There are other milestones that’s related to, um, the integrated coastal zone management plan. Also, the applications for, um, IUCN green. Uh, help me here, Bev Green listing. So there are some other commitments that are also within the, the, the milestones.”
Country Program Director for The Nature Conservancy, Julie Robinson reiterated that there will always be monies to invest in the marine environment and Director of the Blue Bonds, Beverly Wade explained that the benefits naturally extend to those who live off the marine environment.
Julie Robinson
“As part of the money that will be going towards conservation, government had set aside 47 million Belize dollars in an endowment, so that after the 20 year and those conservation payments are completed, After that 20 years, the proceeds from that endowment will continue to fund marine conservation work on the ground in perpetuity.”
Beverly Wade
Beverly Wade, Director, Blue Bonds
“Key to it is strengthening the institutional and the governance framework, and also looking at how do we know bolster livelihoods to ensure that we make a difference in the well being and welfare of Belizean people. As a matter of fact, we’re already leveraging the work that we’re doing with the P.F.P, with local institutions like the Development Finance Corporation currently, and um, the government has done an excellent job in allocating monies for M.S.M.Es. And we are now using those monies, approaching those monies within the DFC to, in the near future, the Ministry of Finance and the Blue Bonds Unit, along with W.W.F and the D.F.C, will be launching what we’re calling, a Fisher Fund Program, and the objective of that is to now create an increase in the uptake of that money by the fishing community to improve their like their livelihoods and their operation and allow them to have an increase in their income.”
But how will the enforcement agencies ramp up their work to discourage over-fishing so that Belize can have marine resources well into the future. Wade says through enhanced technology.
Beverly Wade
“We’re currently investing heavily into the Belize Coast Guard and the Fisheries Department and also our co management partners. We’re actually in the process of procuring, we have ordered already very sophisticated drones for the Belize Coast Guard that are long range and have extensive hours that they’ll now be able to build their air capacity, which has been a gap in the Belize Coast Guard. And it is to complement their operations to ensure that the blue space is well monitored.”
Marion Ali for News Five.
