No IDB Policy based loans halts some government initiatives
According to the PM, the legislative changes that were presented to the House have not been passed and some will come to a complete halt. But we note that the June Indicative Scenarios by the Ministry of Finance refers to policy measures such as the hotel tax and VAT as having been passed in the House but would come into effect in 2013. Still yet, the PM would not ease off Moreno.
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“I am more upset with Moreno because he had, I thought, the support at his board to push this thing through, notwithstanding U.S. Treasury’s objection. But even there it’s what it is. I’m not going to say the bank, Belize will withdraw from the IDB. We have to, we have to be mature. It’s not in our interest not to continue our relationship with the IDB. So, having said what I have said, having made it plain that Belize has the dignity and the sovereign courage to speak truth to power, we move on. And the fact is that ultimately the debt restructuring is a matter for us and the bondholders and the negotiations continue. I’ve indicated that I believe we will get a settlement and I believe, furthermore, that we are fairly close to a settlement.”
Jules Vasquez, 7 News
Dean Barrow
“Now the funny part is that we have already done the legislative, our legislative part of earning a policy-based loan from the IDB, in terms of reconfiguring the hotel tax.”
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“We haven’t you know.”
Jules Vasquez
“Well you passed the law, haven’t you?”
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“No, we didn’t pass that law.”
Jules Vasquez
“But you presented it to the House.”
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“Yes, but we never [passed it.]”
Jules Vasquez
“So now all those things which were [already in the pipeline]…”
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“Ain’t going to be done. But there are other things that we did do such as reduce the number of items on the restricted list, the number of imports and that’s sort of thing we would have had to do in any case.”
Well, that’s a problem. GOB promised to enact laws as the foundation for IDB lending, and then did not enact the required laws. That is reason enough by itself for the loans to be denied. Pretty speeches, all lies.
My fellow Belizeans, please don’t be fooled by the Bra-Anancy histrionics of this deluded, depraved, and defeated Prime Minister. He doesn’t make the rules at IDB nor IMF nor with the foreign bondholders. The best and optimal scenario for the Belize in these negotiations is for Barrow and his intellectual-financial midgets to remain silent and accept the generosity of the lenders and guarantors of our loans. Any future terms and conditions will much better than what exist with the exception that IMF must not be obdurate with increasing the GST. On the contrary, GST must be eliminated as it is a double taxation on the same imported goods. There are many rational economic policies that can be implemented to relieve the death-knell of the Belize economy.
Well said, Malthus.