C.E.O. Osmond Martinez: Belize Aggressively Pursues Finance We Almost Lost Out On
As we reported earlier, Belize is now aggressively pursuing finance from the developed countries in order to be able to assist private sector businesses in the event of a climate change phenomenon. C.E.O. in the Ministry of Economic Development, Doctor Osmond Martinez suggested that this was an area where, in the past, we have been lax in actively pursuing. He said that we are just now putting in place a structure that should have been established long ago to receive the kinds of financing for climate change.
Osmond Martinez
Dr. Osmond Martinez, C.E.O., Ministry of Economic Development
“We need to develop our internal structure that will be able to absorb those kinds of finance. In my presentation I highlighted how G.C.F. has given to Belize eight point zero two million U.S. dollars through the R.R.B. (Resilient Rural Belize) program under the I-FAD (International Fund for Agriculture Development) program from Italy, but we didn’t have the capacity to spend and that money was deposited there from 2017. So we also, as a country, as a government, need to be responsible and move forward in terms of implementation. Other than that, G.C.F. will always look at us and say “but you do not have the capacity to spend eight point zero two million dollars. This is what we need to change and we are changing that. And I have been very clear with all my program managers, in saying listen, if you cannot deliver you have to go. We almost lost forty million dollars from I-FAD, of which sixteen million dollars comes from the G.C.F. And that project was to be completed in February of 2022. When we looked at it in February of 2022, we only had two percent implementation, and that is unacceptable. We have to be serious.”
Reporter
“Where was the failure?”
Dr. Osmond Martinez
“The failure was within the government.”
Marion Ali
“The present government?”
Dr. Osmond Martinez
“No, the past administration. Any agent would be upset, and G.C.F. and I-FAD were not happy. They’re looking at Belize as one of the countries that have the poorest implementation in terms of Green Climate Fund.”
