Chamber gives its views on renegotiated bond

Alberto Young

The government announced on December twenty-first that an agreement in principle was reached in the restructuring of the superbond. Once finalized, the new terms would provide a hundred and fifty million U.S. dollar debt relief for Belize. It’s welcomed news for the economy and the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) has issued its congratulations to the Prime Minister and the Debt Review Team, which was led by Mark Espat and assisted by the Speaker of the House, Mike Peyrefitte. News Five spoke today with the BCCI’s Vice President of Commerce, Alberto Young.

Alberto Young, Vice President of Commerce, BCCI

“The Chamber congratulates the Prime Minister and the team for the renegotiation of the superbond. I think it comes at an opportune time so first of all, we’d like to congratulate the team because the Chamber has been meeting with from time to time with the team and the Prime Minister on this specific and crucial country issue. Our position, as was stated before, is that any alleviation that comes about from fiscal reform, one being the superbond renegotiation should lead to better fiscal management and fiscal reform and that’s the position of the chamber. I think the financial secretary reiterated it several times and said this is not new money; it is basically a way to manage for the future and I think that has been the intent of the government; to make sure that we have some breathing room. It’s not creating new money and that’s important for people to realize and I think it’s prudent, it is something that the government needed to do and they did it in time. Although a very sensitive topic, a sensitive issue, I think it was handled well and I think the results have no doubt paid off and that’s to be applauded and the Chamber of Commerce of course, does that.”