PM Briceño on Economic State of Affairs

John Briceño

As the Briceño administration settles into office, the dire economic situation facing Belize is coming to light.  On Tuesday, Briceño received briefings by senior officials at the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Belize. Late this evening, PM Briceño issued a statement on the very alarming state of the economy.  For months, government has been borrowing to cover the staggering wage bill so the country’s debt has ballooned to never seen before levels.  It is so high that it went from ninety-seven point seven percent of GDP to a hundred and thirty-two point nine percent of GDP.  This unsustainable debt would gain the dubious distinction to any country as a failed state. Here is an excerpt from PM Briceño’s statement.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“The magnitude of mismanagement was verified by technocrats from the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Belize. These technocrats have expressed that the government has been functioning with unsustainable fiscal and debt positions. The presentation from the technocrats revealed that central government’s revenues have fallen by over one hundred and sixty-six point eight million dollars or by twenty-four point nine percent. This is far worse than we had anticipated. Government has been borrowing to meet the monthly wage and other current expenses to the tune of around thirty million dollars per month. As a result, central government’s debt has jumped from ninety-seven point seven percent of GDP to a hundred and thirty-two point nine percent of GDP. In simple terms, the U.D.P. government maxed out the credit card.  We do not earn enough to pay our bills. We are more than double the internationally accepted debt to GDP threshold and the second highest in the Caribbean. This is unsustainable.”