Opposition Leader supports renegotiation of Superbond

Francis Fonseca

The Opposition, Peoples United Party (P.U.P.) has expressed its interest and concern about the bond. Though the P.U.P. has not been a part of the negotiation, it supports the government’s desire to ease the burden on the Belizean People.

Francis Fonseca, Leader of the Opposition

“It is a critically important matter and it continues to be of great concern to us that the government has effectively been silent on this matter. The last time we heard the matter addressed was at a press conference by the Prime Minister several weeks ago. Since that time, we’ve gotten no updates on what has been taking place. We’ve heard rumors and there has been a lot of speculation about meetings taking place between the bondholders and the debt renegotiating team. But the country has not been informed; certainly we in the opposition have not been informed of any new developments. We are very concerned to find out what it is that is taking place in terms of the three options that the government has put on the table. As you know, the government placed three indicative scenarios before the bondholders. Have any of those scenarios been accepted? If not, what changes have been made to them? What counterproposals have been made? Has the government agreed to make any payment in terms of the monies due this year? These are all very critical issues.  The government says that oh there will be no real meaningful impact on Belize’s economic development. Well we don’t agree with that. We believe that the uncertainty that surrounds this bond issue and all the questions that have arisen as a result of Belize’s announcement that it is not going to meet the coupon payment, I think gives rise to great, great uncertainty and has led to a further decline in investment climate. So we are very concern as an opposition. We support the bond renegotiation process; we’ve made that very clear. We want it to succeed.”

The non-payment of the coupon today has been regarded as a default by international financial publications. The Wall Street Journal says that the next step would be for creditors to pursue litigation against the country in the US courts.