C.D.B. Provides US$6 Million Loan for Belize’s Student Loan Program

The Caribbean Development Bank has issued a six million dollar loan to the Government of Belize for a student loan program that will assist as many as eight hundred learners, including financially disadvantaged persons, pursuing post-secondary and tertiary level studies. Funds for the initiative will be made available through the Development Finance Corporation. The loan was approved at a recent meeting of the C.D.B.’s board of directors. With roughly seventy percent of the Belizean population under the age of thirty-five, the demand for tertiary education is steadily increasing. The anticipated benefits of the project include increases in enrolment and graduation rates for tertiary level programs, as well as an increase in the number of highly skill professionals entering the local workforce.