Minister says super bond is to blame for financial woes

john saldivar

As the debate continued, Minister John Saldivar called out the PUP Leader, John Briceño for complaining about the zero rating of luncheon meat, potted meat and a few other canned goods.  But he didn’t’ stop there. He also spent a lengthy time blaming Area Representative for Albert, Mark Espat, for being the architect of the super bond, which he says is crippling the country.

John Saldivar, Minister of Public Service

“He dares to criticize our modest—small, modest—our modest attempt to try to make things better for poor people. We agreed ih modest, we agree dah wah small amount, but it’s all we can afford because of the situation we are in. but how dare you criticize the fact that we are taking GST off luncheon meat, potted meat, ramen, macaroni and cheese; maybe dah because he no eat den thing. And pigtail and so, Mr. Speaker and I say this to the Belizean people, dah noh much, but its an indication that this government cares about the poor people of this nation. It was after ten years of PUP mismanagement and corruption that saw our national debt go from five million in 1998 to over two billion by 2008. If we want to convert the math that’s more than four times what they met when they became government in 1998. They’re talking about twenty-five percent increase in GST, that’s more than four hundred percent in the national debt over ten years. It was when we became the governed, Mr. Speaker, it was after PUP mismanagement that left us with the Super bond and I’m so glad he brought up that super bond, which will see us paying hundreds of millions in interest alone up to 2019 after which we will get to start paying back the principal so we don’t even get to pay back principal until 2019. And I need to speak about the super bond, Mr. Speaker, because it hangs like an albatross around our necks. The super bond, which they don’t like to hear about and I think the member from Albert has taken credit for being the architect of that. The super bond in interest alone Mr. Speaker is forty-seven million dollars per hour; Forty-seven million dollars per year. We have been paying forty-seven million dollars a year since February of 2007. That amounts to one hundred and forty million dollars in interest alone since they gave us the super bond. And Mr. Speaker, this interest will go up. We want to lay the facts about the super bond bare for the Belizean people to understand why it is that we have to be raising tax, why it is that we are still not out of the hole that the PUP dug for the Belizean people. Mr. Speaker, the interest rate on the super bond, which is currently four point two-five percent, will be going up to six percent starting August of this year which means that for this fiscal year we will be paying sixty-seven million dollars in interest payments alone on the super bond. That is twenty million dollars more than last year. Sixty-seven million dollars that we must fork up.”