Govt. cuts a deal with the bank; vote will come next week

The battle lines have been drawn, both between the two major political parties and within the ruling P.U.P. After a day of intrigue in Belmopan, on the eve of Friday’s meeting of the House of Representatives here’s how things stand. Sources indicate that Prime Minister Said Musa has negotiated an agreement with the Belize Bank that takes the thirty-three million dollar U.H.S. loan and trims it to twenty-nine million. For the next twenty-five years G.O.B. will pay interest only, at a rate of ten percent per annum, with the full twenty-nine million due in a single payment in 2032.

That would be a great deal for anyone who was negotiating a mortgage refinance, but it will certainly have no impact on the Opposition and much of the public, who say that government should not be paying so much as a cent toward the privately contracted loan.

It may, however, sway a few rebellious members of Cabinet to the P.M.’s side. Our latest count shows only Mark Espat, Cordel Hyde, and John Briceño determined to vote no on the motion for approval of the loan proposal. And that vote will not even come tomorrow. Late word out of Belmopan is that the Government motion to approve the new loan arrangement will be introduced and immediately sent to committee, with debate and a vote delayed until the following Friday. Presumably, the Prime Minister will use that week to convince his reluctant ministers to see the light.