Standard & poor Rating for Belize plunge
At the launch of the U.D.P. manifesto last week, Prime Minister Dean Barrow was deliberate in saying that bond holders will have to sit around the table to renegotiate the five hundred and sixty-five million dollar Superbond. The statement has been picked up by Standard and Poor’s, which again lowered Belize credit rating this evening. A report in the Wall Street Journal says, “Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded Belize’s credit rating two notches deeper into junk territory, citing the increasing likelihood that government officials will seek to restructure the nation’s debt this year. The latest downgrade is the second by S&P this month following a single-notch cut on February sixth.”
F*** the rating agencies. No matter which party governs Beliz in the next 30 years, the Superbond is a burden that keeps Belize from promoting jobs and helping people. S&P people no live through what we live through.
I getting feed with this S&P drama should Barrow have run his mouth no. But this bound is not fair to the Belizean people because if it is not renegotiated then GOB must cut social services, education and other public works because GOB can’t tax an economy in recovery. I don’t care for the PUP as long as Musa and the Boyz are around Francis(good luck) but if they win I hope that they continue to push for a restructure for it is the only solution in my humble opinion.
Dean B strategy is simple when he wins, do not pay the superbond and default, belize will not be able to get any financing or investments because we will be in junk territory, world bank and imf will scream murder, so what next for poor belize because we will not be able to do anything. Simple, take over bne, take over becol, take over belcogen, take over whatever, this way the country will have energy independence and food dependence at least in the short term. The Belizeans people will be worse off because this new rogue country will still get the trickling of tourism, until Dean B convinces his nephew to do some off shore drilling and what do you know five years will be upon us and next elections, easy, easy. This is what the people want, ownership of everything and more placards saying da fuh we. Don’t worry about paying for btl, bel, airport and so on because hell, why pay when the courts will be dragged on and on and on and five years will be here again. Basic basic this plan is because we have nowhere to go, nowhere to hide but default on superbond and think about it the money we will save will be enough to last for years and years. You want your money come sue us and freeze our assets overseas because we have none so no problem sah. And we do not like when we compare Dean B to Chavez, this is exactly what Chavez did and what happened, people happy for first couple of years but now no food, no electricity, so at least we know where we will be in five years. It is a luxury the Venezuelans did not have. Take it and thank god that we at least know where we stand. But what about them pup, who started this superbond in the first place, they are a bunch of no goods that got us here so you cant now complain about Dean B because you have ten years to fix it and what you did, gave us a superbond with a B (sorry Juliet and joe). Vote VIP people, it is your only hope in hell.
Its ok for ordinary Belizeans to !@@#$% and moan about the superbond, that’s to be expected. What’s not to be expected is for the prime minister to act like a thug instead of acting like a statesman. Renegotation of the bond could have, and most likely, happen with little issue if it had been handled diplomatically. It did not have to come down to multiple downgrades, but the PM simply calculated that he could get political mileage from ranting and raving a month before an election. If he was genuinely interested in getting the best solution, he would have begun the process back in 2008 when he was elected to deal with the problem, not a month before an election.
All these oil companies in Belize and these people keep worryig about a $565 million dollar Superbond just seems odd. BP had to set up a $20 BILLION USD escrow account to pay for damages that arose from the previous oil spill incident in the Gulf. Why isn’t GOB collecting more revenues from these people, even if up front in some sort of escrow to satisfy its debts, as it clearly seems that these contracts being awarded are obviously of no benefit to the country of Belize. Oil is trading at $107 USD per barrel so there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to meet fianncial obligations. And i’m not even talking about other industries that can be developed in addition to citrus, rice, sugar, fisheries, timber, tourism , etc; plus GOB owns BTL and the electric company. BTl alone should be generating about $100 million a year in annual revenues. Something is obviously severly wrong….
Can’t understand what the big deal about the Superbond is. It is only $ 565 million dollars. All these oil companies down here and oil is currently trading at $ 107 USD per barrel. BP had to set aside $20 BILLION for the Gulf oil spill. Why isn’t GOB collecting more revenues from these companies to use in its operations? If each oil company put up $200 million USD, that could be escrowed, GOB would have NO problems and Belize would be progressing. Belize has Citrus, Timber, Sugar, Rice, Fishing, Tourism, and other industries operating in addition to owning BTL and the electricity company. BTL alone is good for about $100 million in revenues per year. WHERE IS ALL THE $$$ going? Why are they constantly unable to meet obligations and always borrowing?
Think-About-It and Bongo, you are both correct. It is all political campaigning by Dean Barrow, attempting to misguide the people, making believe that the Superbond is the root cause of all evil, when in reality the Superbond improved the debt profiling of Belize.
Furthermore, the principal of the Superbond is not payable all at once, $565 million in one payment, but in 20 installments of 5% each 6 months for TEN years, 2019 – 2029… $28.25 million each 6 months.
Also, the interest payment on the Superbond starts DROPPING after 2019, when the first principal installment is paid, as you only pay interest on outstanding debt. So interest payments DROP at the rate of 5% each 6 months, from 2019-2029.
People of Belize: don’t let Dean Barrow fool you.
Bongo, BTL and BEL are generating nada, nada. All the taxes they used to collect like business tax, import tax, is no more so by taking over the two companies we are worse off because we cant tax them. Dean B think he smart but he is fooling the people because he doesn’t tell them that he cannot collect tax from state owned companies anymore. We keep hearing about the millions these companies make that is a garbage put out by the krem crowd and john avery. Those companies do not generate any kinda profits and the little they make have to pay dividends because all that social security money need to have a return on the investment. This whole mess is crazy, crazy. No money deh mek from the utilities. And how will we mek money from oil when we only have 5000 barrel a day. Do the math bretha , we cant make no kinda money from 5000 barrel a day. Even if we made half as profit. But Dean B say we will build a refinery. So he will give up selling the oil at US$107 and make gasoline and sell cheap in Belize. Look at Nigeria, they tried the same thing and look how they ended up because the corrupt politicians keep all the profits. Fool di talk, but no fool di listen.
WHAT DO WE HAVE TO SHOW FOR THE 500+ MILLION DOLLARS???
If BTL and BEL are not paying taxes as governement entities, then in theory, their revenues are the same as governements revenues, and if theyr’e not seeing a penny, then they are being poorly managed. Secondly, 5000 barrels a day x 300 = roughly 1,500,000 barrels of oil per year. Multiply that by $107 per barrel and you have about $160,000,000 USD in revenues…….per year roughly. And again I havent even included revenues from the other industries. That is more than enough $ to run the country and set funds aside to cover obligations including the Super bond.
@Charlie Price,
Not saying some wans’t squandared…BUT, considering it covers 15 years or so of borrowing, let’s see: Orange Walk By-Pass, with 2 bridges, Marine Parade Boulevard, Mahogany Heights (yes not worth what it should, but definitely not zero), Burrell Boom By-pass, Southern Highway, Kendall Bridge….OOOOPS! Sorry, scatch that last one, LOL!
Damn. That’s a good question Charlie Price. The politicians will answer that one by saying that they built Civic Center, The Fire Station, The Market ( Commercial Center) at the corner of the Swing Bridge, thepassport building behind mahogany street, the building that houses customs, the PSW Airport, all the roads and highways, probably even throw Marion Jones Stadium in there etc. Pretty much everything thats falling apart now….
The requirements of a Prime Minister just seem to be above and beyond the capacity of attorney Barrow to reach.
Belize owe sa geat deal of money. We hope for some mercy, relief, or consideration from our creditors. We are dealing from economic weakness, and we need to find a way to make the creditors WANT to help us, not threaten them that we will default.
WHAT GOB DOES NOW CAN AFFECT THE ECONOMIC LIFE OF THIS COUNTRY FOR FIFTY OR MORE YEARS, FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE.
Charlie Price, what do we have to show for all the revenue the GOB currently collects, including oil revenue???
Storm, the people of Belize are facing economic problems, NOT the government or the banks of Belize. The international reserves at the Central Bank stand at US$250 million. Government revenue has increased considerably in the last few years, especially now with oil revenue, which didn’t exist under the PUP.
So international creditors wouldn’t buy the argument that Belize is economically weak, as it is not. Belize banks have a lot of money in their vaults.
The fact that people are poorer than before is another story, one which directly relates to the low economic growth under Barrow. If Belize was growing at 5%+ as it did before Barrow, people would be much better off.
Bongo, revenues is not money for you to keep. Revenues is money you make when you sell a product but the money you make is after your expenses. You have to pay to drill, ship, store and god knows what. Chances are you are making US$50 per barrel – if you are lucky. plus you have to save money for future investments, maintenance, so you are left with maybe US$30 per barrel. Seems Bongo you work for amandala and channel 7 because they keep saying that btl and bel make a lot of revenies. Revenues is what you make when you sell something, the money you keep is after you have coughed up the large expenses associated with running a business. Kinda now I understand why the Government is in this mess, they keep thinking revenues is what you get from a business. Fools running the country.
Dont forget about the overpass by palotti roundabout, and di WASA building……thats about $15 illion right there alone…..