PM Briceño Returns from I.D.B.’s Governors Meeting in Panama

Prime Minister John Briceño

As we mentioned earlier, Prime Minister John Briceño and his delegation returned to Belize this afternoon, following a working visit to Panama where he met high-level officials from the I.D.B.  During that visit, PM Briceño took the opportunity to present Belize’s perspective regarding its classification as a middle income country.  Here’s more from the prime minister.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“The last in-person governor’s meeting the IDB had was in 2019 and since the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 and even 2022.  They were just having Zoom meetings, so this was the first in-person meeting.  Also, this is the first meeting of the new president Ilan Goldfajn, a Brazilian banker who now has taken over the helm of the IDB.  For me, it was important as the government of Belize, representing Belize at the IDB to be at this meeting.  Basically, to listen first of all to what is the vision of the new president of the IDB, but also to be able to put Belize’s perspective as a small country and the concern that we are constantly mentioning that in many instances, the IFIs look at Belize as an upper middle income country when it’s really looking just at the numbers it may be so.  But the reality on the ground is that it is not like that, we are a relatively poor country because we have challenges. It requires a lot of money and that is why we are saying that we need to be considered to be given consideration to get concessionary funding, concessionary funding that goes like around two percent interest rates and monies that you can pay probably in thirty years or more and that can give us the opportunity to invest to develop and then be able to collect the taxes to pay these loans.  They hear us, they listened to us and they are starting to see what we are talking about.”