Chamber objects to principle of locals shopping in CFZ

Thousands of Belizeans are expected to head to north on Saturday to make their first Government sanctioned entry into the Corozal Free Zone. And while we are not sure what kind of deals they’ll be able to enjoy given the restrictions placed on shoppers by Customs and BAHA, this afternoon the Belize Chamber of Commerce’s Chief Executive Officer Kevin Herrera maintained that Belmopan’s edict is a short-term answer to a long-term problem.

Kevin Herrera, CEO, Belize Chamber of Commerce
“Two days of shopping in the Free Zone just will not bring consumers better prices, it will not lower in any significant way their cost of living and that’s what we’ve been telling government over the years is that the cost of doing business is very expensive in Belize. Taxes have gone up significantly over the years and we are saying let’s sit down and try to find a way how we could try lower these taxes and lower the cost of doing business so that we can provide consumers better prices throughout the year.”

“I don’t think anybody benefits from this. It probably could also be a scheme by which governments wants to collect a lot of taxes in one of two days, I don’t know. Like I said I think it’s very unfair and I think that it is disingenuous. I think we could have sat down and come up with a solution. Government obviously decided not to do that and so really the issues have not been resolved. Government’s decision to allow people to go up there is really an admission that taxes are too high within the Customs territory and I am saying perhaps we should have sat down and tried to address that.”

Shoppers will be barred from bringing back liquor, seafood or frozen, fresh and smoked meat. Consumers will also have to pay customs duties, G.S.T., and the two percent environmental tax on all purchases. Belmopan is planning to open the free zone to Belizean shoppers again on December fifteenth.