The economic Indicators via the IDB
Tonight in Economic Indicators, we focus on the Inter-American Development Bank. This week, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that the US Treasury blocked the Inter-American Development Bank from disbursing a loan request to Belize. The Bank plays a crucial role in opening up economies to foreign direct investment and in strengthening property rights to allow private sectors to flourish. The IDB, like any other multilateral agency such as the International Monetary Fund, also expects from its members fiscal discipline, expenditure management and public debt sustainability. Its objectives are geared to boost macroeconomic stability through fiscal measures to grow revenues and curtail spending. How does Belize fare with these measures? It is safe to say that because of the high debt burden there is not in place an appropriate or concrete framework that is consistent with fiscal sustainability. 
There are also insufficient fiscal measures to boost revenue or fiscal discipline to ensure that fiscal targets are met. Public debt sustainability and inability to meet debt obligations have led the country into technical default. As a result, the country’s capacity to maintain or gain flow of financing from its multilateral partners is weak. Of its forty-eight members, there are twenty-six borrowing members, all of them in Latin America and the Caribbean. The remaining twenty-two are non borrowing, meaning that they provide capital and have voting representation in the Bank’s Board of Governors. The IDB’s non-borrowing members include the United States, Canada, Japan, Israel, the Republic of Korea, the People’s Republic of China, and sixteen European countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
From this report, it sounds like IDB had good reason to turn down our request for another handout. No fiscal discipline is a pretty damning conclusion for a young adult, let alone a nation.
We need new leadership of our economy, however that might come about.
The US too chancy. A poor nation like us trying to re-structure debt left by a corrupt government and they block our attempts. I think its big money that is running the US, not Obama. ITs Aschroft and Fortis who did this shit.
When lawyer McKinstry in 1950s, at the command of the British Colonial Office responsible for economic development in Belize, abrogated the “Fee Simple Absolute” ownership of land , he destroyed the human rights and land rights of Belizeans and condemned them to being vassals and serfs forever without any hope of acquiring wealth to become millionaires and investors in their own country. Lawyer McKinstry did this to prevent Belizeans from owning the resources of the country. But none of the bright boys in GOB will state this is one of the fundamental causes we have a corrupt government and officials who continue to destroy the economy by continuously finding ways around the so called financial standing orders, etc. Now here comes the IMF to tell us in quite nice terms that we are fools to not destroy old laws which keep us in slavery by not permitting to advance capitalistic democracy as we know it today.Change these archaic laws, get rid od official corruption and Belize will be able to pay all its debts and then some. We have at least 50 years of oil below our surface which we don’t own because that right was taken from us in slavery days. So we can fix all our problems if we fix land ownership. It took foreigners to tell you this. Let’s see if you act now!!
Maybe PM Barrow and Belize needs to revist the relationship with Taiwan and ditch Taiwan for China. China is sitting ON billions of dollars in excess funds which they are willing to lend to any country that supports China and allows China to have good econmic relations with. Even the US borrows from China; in fact USAs biggest creditor is China.
If IDB nuh waa help Belize dehn I sure CHina would just so that they can stick the middle finger to the US.
@javier and @Rum Drum, it might be true that China would give us credit — but to what purpose? In the end, credit = debt, and we already have too much debt.
The solution is requires fundamental change — GOB MUST LIVE WITHIN ITS REVENUE, AND NOT KEEP PILING ON DEBT! It is especially important where so much of the national treasury just disappears and cannot be found, even by the Auditor General.
If we don’t mend our ways, we will bankrupt the nation for our children and grandchildren — we’re very near that now.
If you borrow the money you must pay it back. Those are simple rules that GOB just doesn’t understand. This “Gimme ah dalla” crap has got to stop. We need proper fiscal management. We do not need a bunch of half wits who think they know all about it running the show. Our PM is an embarrassment. I can not believe the things he is saying in the press. Belize accepts millions of dollars in foreign aid each year and to turn around and bad mouth the people that feed you is just plain rude and ignorant.