Payment of Belize’s External Debt to be Relaxed

John Briceño

The restructuring of Belize’s external debt has been much talked about since it was first announced on September third by Prime Minister John Briceño.  Since then, additional details of an agreement with bondholders, as well as The Nature Conservancy, to streamline the Super Bond payments have been shared by the Government of Belize.  In his Independence Day address, PM Briceño delved further into the new Super Bond arrangement, as well as a three-year moratorium on loan payments to Taiwan.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Our efforts in renegotiating the Super Bond are now public. As of September fourteenth, we have formally launched our offer at a deep discount of fifty-five cents on each dollar of outstanding bonds issued to bondholders. We still have some ways to go to get that across the finish line, but we look forward to that day when we will finally be released from this noose hanging around our necks and to the substantial savings of almost half a billion dollars to the government and people of Belize. We also look forward to the issuance of the new Blue Bonds, which will enable us to set up a Marine Conservation Endowment Fund. This fund, in twenty years, will grow to over two hundred million Belize dollars and has been designed to ensure marine conservation project funding in perpetuity. If we are successful on this front, our debt-to-GDP ratio will reduce by a full twelve percent, moving us toward a sustainable debt path. We would also enjoy cumulative cash flow relief over the period of this P.U.P. administration of almost one hundred and thirty million. Our debt management efforts do not end there, however, as we explore other areas to restructure other government debt. In this regard, we are pleased to report that our close friend and partner in development, the Republic of China (Taiwan), has agreed to reschedule all ten of our loans with them amounting to two hundred and eighty-six million dollars, providing a principal moratorium on these loans for up to three years.”