Government will ease small D.F.C. borrowers

Several thousand Belizeans who have defaulted on small loans with the Development Finance Corporation are being relieved of their debt burden. The initiative, which according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office, involves close to six million dollars and one thousand, five hundred and twenty-five borrowers, was approved by Cabinet on Tuesday and will apply primarily to small farmers and hurricane victims. Sources in the D.F.C. today told News Five that the actual number of loans is in fact above two thousand. They emphasized, however, that it was not a case of the D.F.C. forgiving any loans, but of Belmopan selecting the borrowers in question and paying off their debts in full, including all mortgage cancellation fees. Those payments involve no cash, but will instead take the form of set offs against money owed to government by D.F.C. As for the reasons behind the write-offs, the Cabinet release states that “the decision to forgive the debts was taken in the context of the winding down of D.F.C.’s loan portfolio and the clearing of special D.F.C. loan schemes.” It should be noted that all the loans cancelled by government had been in default for several years and many had already been turned over to collection agencies; in short there was little chance that they could be salvaged. It should also be recalled that nationwide municipal elections will be held on March first.