Opposition says PM sending wrong message to investors
What does the nationalization mean for investors confidence? P.U.P. leader, John Briceño, says it sends the wrong signals and that efficiency and productivity will suffer. Briceño says it is also a matter of what’s good and what’s bad mostly for the layman and woman.
John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition
“I think what is important, what is of concern today and what I was trying to tell the prime minister is that we did not get a look at the bill so that we could study it and make an informed decision. The first thing that jumped to me was the issue of nationalizing a private company. We can go through history and they show that every time governments nationalize a company, it usually does not work out. There’s serious inefficiencies in the companies and in many instances when they decide to divest of that company that they nationalize, many times cronies and friends of the government are the ones that benefit the most. I was also making the point of investor confidence. As it is right now, the investment climate in Belize is low. The private sector in Belize right now is having great concerns and grave concerns for the government, the way they have been managing the affairs of this country. When you couple that with foreign investors and a foreigner looking at the government of the day can just arbitrarily decide—because they can’t get what they want—decide that are going to take over your company. That certainly would not go well with foreigners. In a democracy, there are ways of dealing with this. We have access to the courts and the government has been going to the courts and they should continue fighting—they have won already some cases. So now why the haste? Why turn it around and go into nationalizing a private company?”
Marion Ali
“He said because of the dire situation that we are in and we have been in over the years with Mr. Ashcroft and his company.”
John Briceño
“But the point is that this is not going to solve the issues that are affecting the Belizean people.”
