Chamber seeks input on economy
Foreign exchange–or rather the lack of it–is never far from the minds of many Belizeans. While government admits that the situation is tight and is in fact rationing the available funds, it predicts that the position will ease as exports pick up in the second half of the year. In the meantime, according to Chamber of Commerce General Manager Kevin Herrera, some drastic action must be taken.
Kevin Herrera, General manager, B.C.C.I.
“It’s pretty serious. We get calls everyday from members, who are disgruntled. The situation is you just cannot access foreign exchange; it’s as simple as that. For whatever reasons that may be, there are people in the productive sector who cannot get their raw materials for their production. People in distributing sector, have a problem paying for their inventories they had ordered on credit. And we have people in the services who may need foreign exchange for one reason or another, again they just cannot obtain the quantity of foreign exchange that is required.
We need to look at some short term solutions, whatever those may be, and I’m hoping that through the National Economic Council we’ll be able to try to come up with something tangible that can work in the short term. We also need some medium term solutions and some long term. But I think the short and medium terms are critical because people are…backs are against the wall when it comes to foreign exchange right now. People are extended, many of the companies are not getting any more raw materials or credit until they pay for what is owed. So it’s really a bind, it’s really a right situation and I’m hearing reports that things will be getting better in the middle of the year. We all hope so, but in the meantime, I think we have to come up with tangible, steps that we can take to make sure that the situation improves. We cannot sustainably deal with this problem, unless we go back to earning our foreign exchange, it’s as basic as that. We must earn our foreign exchange.”
Among the specific steps that need to be taken, according to Herrera, are the expansion of exports and for importers to be more selective in what they choose to bring in. On the government side, he pointed to the need to renegotiate the terms of some particularly burdensome foreign loans. As a result of a recent meeting with the Prime Minister, a National Economic Council has been formed through which the private sector will have input on government policy.
