B.C.C.I. Resolute in Its Position on Minimum Wage Adjustment

The Briceño administration has signed into law an increase in the hourly minimum wage which will come into force on New Year’s Day.  On January first, 2023, the lowest legal rate of pay will be adjusted to five dollars per hour.  While the business community does not object to the long overdue adjustment, its representative organization, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has been lobbying for a phased approach which would see the minimum wage ultimately being adjusted to five dollars per hour by the end of the Briceño administration’s first term.  With the changes coming into effect in the next three days, we asked Marcello Blake, President of the B.C.C.I., for an update on the chamber’s position.

Marcello Blake

Marcello Blake, President, B.C.C.I.

“The chamber has never been against the increase.  We’ve continued to say that it must be done in a balanced approach and be able to look at all angles and so, for us, the phased approach is what we recommended.  And now I can tell you that through the taskforce, that was also the recommendation that would have gone to cabinet, in that you’d look at four dollars come January 2023 and then in subsequent years increasing to $4.50 and then five dollars, to still end up with five dollars by the end of 2025.  Now with the phased approach, what that means is that it then cushions the impact that businesses will face.  It will also look at what those impacts can have on the economy.  I think that one of the things that has not been considered is the fact that there are going to be effects on the economy as a whole with the increases as they come.  If you were in a position to do them in smaller bites, it allows the government to be able to then see what the effects and impacts are and make adjustments.  But when you’re doing it in one full sweep, really you’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”