P.M. reveals how Venezuelan millions will be spent
The Venezuela millions, this is another topic that has been dominating the headlines this year. And while the twenty million has been handed over to the government by the Belize Bank, the matter is still under arbitration in London. But Barrow says G.O.B. will have no part of it… and is focusing on spending the twenty million dollars.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“Even if they get an award, they will have to enforce it in this country and I have indicated that that is where we will join issue. The twenty million dollars that the Belize Bank is trying to get is of course very safely in our hands and will soon not be in our hands because we intend the spend the twenty million dollars. You know that we had appointed a committee and they have made their preliminary submissions to Cabinet. Those submissions have been approved with slight modifications. There’s another meeting to be held and we expect them pretty much to sign off at that meeting. So certainly by Christmas, I would think perhaps next month, but by Christmas the programme ought to start. I can tell you that what they recommended and what Cabinet agreed was that the monies ought to be divided equally among the thirty-one constituencies. There is a split between usage for new home construction—and the majority of the funds will be used for new home construction—and for home improvement. The home improvement will be by way of grants and the new home construction funds will also be by way of grants. The committee had suggested that we use some sort of a means criterion to determine whether there are cases in which we should try to promote some sort of reflows. But Cabinet felt that this was a gift from Venezuela and it ought, therefore, to be free to the people of Belize.”
Barrow says the Christmas seasons should also bring other relief for residents in the form of lower prices across the board. And speaking of grants, this morning Barrow revealed that G.O.B. has secured a thirty million dollar soft loan from the Inter-American Development Bank for tourism related projects. Another four million dollars in grant funding was received from Venezuela, which along with an eight million dollar loan from International Fund for Agriculture Development will be spent in the agriculture industry improving roads and assist farmers with loans et cetera.
