Fin Sec on Fuel: “We Are Losing About a Million Dollars A Month”

Joseph Waight

The Financial Secretary also responded to questions on the high cost of fuel. Last week, Moses Shyne Barrow, the Leader of the Opposition, criticized the Briceño Administration for the cost of fuel at the pumps. Barrow argued that fuel prices are at an all time low in the U.S. and that Prime Minister John Briceño is intent on keeping the price of fuel in Belize high. Waight gave us his take on the matter.

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary

“Well, there are two things here. The pump price at a gas station in Florida, in Miami or in Houston, and the pump price in Belize, these are two different stories altogether. It’s a volume thing. One small city in United States consumes more fuel than the entire country of Belize. So it’s a volume game. Remember, they’re closer to the refining aspect as well. When we in Belize, by the time we pay the freight, the insurance, and so there’s added costs that you don’t see and it’s a, it’s a volume thing. Now when it comes to our relief or prices, we still have a programmer. We stabilize the price at the pump for regular gasoline and diesel, we’re stabilizing. The price has been going now for over a year. By that I mean the price is fixed and we use the excise tax as a shock absorber to up and down to maintain that level price so there’s predictability and  people know what, what the price, I guess will be next week and maybe next month. Now to do that the price, the excise taxes, we are charging even is much less than it was previously, where it was before the war in Ukraine and before the increase in prices. So the government is still taking a notional loss every time we sell a gas gallon because we’re not getting the same level of tax we would’ve gotten, say, back in, in 2019, 2020 or 2021. Currently it fluctuates by month depending on where the taxes are. Currently, I think we’re losing about a million dollars a month. But it can go up or down. It can go up.”