Debt-for-nature swap nets Belize US $8.5 million

Both the I.M.F. and the Opposition UDP have complained about the rapid increase in the government’s foreign debt. Today, however, comes news of a welcome reduction in the amount we owe abroad. As part of its efforts to encourage world-wide conservation, the United States government has agreed to cancel approximately half of Belize’s outstanding debt to Uncle Sam, amounting to eight point five million U.S. dollars. In return Belize has agreed to invest over fourteen million Belize dollars plus interest over the next twenty-six years in a fund to endow Belizean environmental groups. The fund’s resources will be used to conserve or restore tropical forests and will be channelled through the Belize Audubon Society, Programme for Belize, the PACT foundation and the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment, as well as the U.S. NGO, the Nature Conservancy. The debt-for-nature swap was made possible by the U.S. Tropical Conservation Act of 1998. Signing on behalf of the U.S. government at ceremonies in Washington was Treasury Undersecretary, Paul Taylor, while Ambassador Lisa Shoman did the honours for Belize.