No hard feelings, says minister
If the man on the other side of the negotiating table was incensed by the petulant action of the fuel dealers, he wasn’t showing it. According to Budget Minister and designated political fire-fighter, Ralph Fonseca, there were no hard feelings.
Ralph Fonseca, Min. of Budget Management
“We’re not angry, we just continue to talk and make sure that this thing can work out. Fortunately it occurred after hours, between 6:00 and 8:00 in the morning, so no one was really affected. It’s a glitch, and the glitch has been corrected.”
“The pump price is not changing, the Government of Belize continues to try to absorb as much as possible of the increase cost. We absorbed it for three years. As a matter of fact, the percentage of duties and taxes that we get from fuel today, is about fifty points less that we were getting in 1998 when we got into government. This would be the actual cost, so you’d have to spread it our over the entire year, the arithmetic answer would probably be about two million dollars over the entire year.”
“Government absorbs as much as it can to pass on the cheapest prices as is possible, because that’s what will help the economy to grow.”
Sources close to the station owners say that the trade group is dominated by dealers in Cayo, where the high ratio of stations to vehicles means that profits are slim to none. In other parts of the country, including Belize City, the situation is less competitive and we are informed that a well managed operation can turn a decent profit, even at a margin of forty-five cents per gallon.
