P.U.P. believes bond negotiation has stalled

Francis Fonseca

Earlier in the newscast we told you about the P.U.P.’s press conference that focused on crime and healthcare. During the Q and A session, Leader of the Opposition, Francis Fonseca fielded questions about the government’s bond negotiation with international creditors. Fonseca believes the government’s negotiation has stalled. Moreover he says that his Party has still not been apprised or consulted about the current state of the negotiation.

Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition

“We are very, very concerned about this matter; as I said in my statement, the bond renegotiations, the restructuring appears to be stalled. That’s the best conclusion that we can reach at this point because there is no information being shared with the opposition. I can say that I have not been briefed on the matter by anybody in the government of Belize including the Prime Minister. In fact as you may know, when the Prime Minister was asked about this matter of consulting me—it may have been you who asked the question at his last press conference—he came up with this almost ridiculous response saying that if he included the opposition somehow we would be able to take credit for any success that was achieved. So I find that very puzzling as to why that is the government’s position on this matter. They have shared no information with us. As he said at that press conference and that was some time ago, he gave an assurance that there would be a briefing to the finance house committee; that’s several months ago. That has not taken place; there has been absolutely no briefing given to the finance committee of the House of Representative. There is no need for me to consult—this was what he said—with the opposition. I don’t need to brief them, but I will have the bond committee go before the finance committee of the House and brief them. That has not been done so we are very, very concern. This restructuring has very, very serious implications for the future growth and development of Belize. We are not hearing anything from our government. I know the Prime Minister went to meetings in Washington; he came back and gave some very brief comments on what took place. We understand, it is our information—and we have to be getting this information from outside of Belize. It is really disgraceful; we should be getting this information from our own government, instead we have to be relying on people outside of Belize and it was clear that the government’s proposals were rebuffed. Their attempts to get these various organizations to support some of the activities that they want to engage in were not supported. But we have heard nothing official from our government.”