FinSec on International Financing

But, undoubtedly these repeated defaults on loan payments to bond holders have had a negative impact on Belize’s international reputation.  Waight says Belize continues to bilateral financing, but he acknowledges the economy is in dire straits.

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary

“Well you know, we have a structural problem. We have an unsustainable debt situation, and we are trying to cure it. Once it is cured, we will have renewed access to capital markets. But at this point in time, it is what it is. This is where we are. We do have access to what we call the official sector. We continue to have access to the IFIs, the multilateral agencies, the Caribbean Bank, the IDB, and others. We have a strong bilateral program with the US and Venezuela. So, we do have access to financing. It’s just commercial financing is the difficulty right now. And commercial financing is quite expensive.”