Opposition Leader Takes On Briceño Administration’s Borrowing and Spending
Shyne Barrow
Last night, we told you about the Briceño administration’s successful negotiations with Venezuela over the Petrocaribe debt. The Government of Belize was able to work out a significant discount, close to quarter of a billion dollars, off the outstanding debt. It is a win for Belize, since the restructured debt agreement will reduce the nation’s debt-to-G.D.P. ratio by an additional six percent. Notwithstanding the success, Leader of the Opposition Moses Shyne Barrow says the Briceño administration’s continuous borrowing will only lead the country further into debt. Here is what he had to say.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
“My instinctive reaction is that whenever we clear these debts in this instance hasn’t actually come to fruition, because the payments to Venezuela cannot happen right now, because of the sanctions, so it’s not as we were paying anyway. But whatever potential debt restructuring will come from Prime Minister’s Briceño’s meeting with President Maduro, the debt continues to increase. As soon as the relief debt, they spend and they create more debt. If you look at the amount of monies that have been borrowed since this PUP government took office, we’re at about half a billion dollars. So when they talk about the Blue Bond restructuring and now the Petro-Caribe debt relief, it doesn’t add up to the billion dollars that they are talking about and I am certain that by the time we get to next budget it will all even out and what we have to be told is what is happening with the revenues that we are generating, if we are generating revenues. So, this talk of debt relief doesn’t necessarily translate into a better quality of life for Belizeans, because this is a fiendish government. They just spend, they are just wildly spending. Now we don’t know whether or not that will result in a complete collapse and whether it will result in development, but the point is I don’t get excited when I hear about the debt relief negotiations or agreements, because this government is spending wildly, so it really adds up to nothing.”
