In a letter sent to the President of the P.S.U. by Financial Secretary, Joseph Waight, the union is told that if it continues to reject the proposal, the prime minister will use the power of his office. Waight says that the PM will proceed to advise the Governor General to amend the Public Service Regulations […]
According to the Prime Minister, the ministers will be giving up fifty percent of their entertainment allowance, which is a monthly sum they receive to host international guests as well as their thousand-dollar telephone monthly allowance. But do ministers actually spend a thousand dollars on telephone every month? We asked the union leaders today. […]
Belize’s economy, knocked down by the debilitating fiscal impact of COVID-19, is on its knees and will take a lot from the public and private sectors to get it standing firmly once the threat of the coronavirus has subsided. In painting a grim picture of the country’s financial affairs, Prime Minister Dean Barrow laid out […]
Since the beginning of the week, there has been an ease on restrictions of the state of emergency and the businesses are reopening except for places such as casinos, gyms and restaurants. Briceño, a businessman himself, sees the need to spur economic activity, but says it has to be measured to prevent the re-emergence of […]
Back to the issue of the public service. In this morning’s press conference, Prime Minister Barrow pledged that he will borrow until the very last to ensure that their substantial salaries are met and committed that there will not be retrenchment. Today, Opposition Leader John Briceño also responded to that proposition by referring to political […]
Government is out of cash in the treasury and debt will continue to grow as government looks to borrow and borrow to meet its wage bill and other obligations. Briceño, in a one-on-one interview with News Five, asserts that for twelve years the government has mismanaged the country and its finance and now a heavy […]
There is an impasse tonight between the Public Service Union and the Government. The matter has been brewing for some weeks, but the union remains firmly rooted in its position not to waive or defer increments for its members without first sitting with Financial Secretary Joseph Waight to go over areas where the Ministry of […]
The government, notwithstanding the COVID-19 crisis, has been struggling to meet its monthly wage bill for public officers and has proposed measures that would accrue three to five percent of current expenditures. Three weeks into the economic shutdown and the Ministry of Finance was already buckling under the weight of meeting payroll. According to Flowers, […]
A legal battle, says Vice President Flowers, is imminent should the prime minister proceed to amend the Public Service Regulations, since he does not have the authority under the existing laws to make individual decisions where that is concerned. According to the P.S.U. executive, PM Barrow is not headstrong enough to make a move without […]
Also in the west, ten persons have been fired from the San Ignacio/San Elena Town Council. Municipal governments across the country are having trouble meeting their monthly expenses and have had to take cost saving measures. Over the past few months, councils have lost millions of dollars in revenue since the State of Emergency regulations […]
Since last week, some restrictions have been eased on the countrywide state of emergency and many businesses, including services provided by the municipal government, have resumed operation. Town and city councils have been closed for almost six weeks and the revenue stream became a slow trickle. Today, we asked Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner, about […]
Now, before COVID 19, on a monthly basis, the council collected about three hundred thousand dollars from the head tax received from the tourism industry. But that too disappeared when the industry when into a standstill contributing to the council’s financial crunch. We asked the mayor if the council is able to meet its commitment […]
The number of persons who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 is in the thousands, though the exact number is still out there. For sure, close to eighty-three thousand applied for COVID-19 Unemployment Relief. The Oversight Committee of the Unemployment Relief has approved about forty-five percent of the applicants to date. Here is an update […]
Earlier you heard the San Ignacio Mayor saying he was cutting down expenditures by reducing staff due to the financial crunch. At City Hall, except for sanitation workers, staff was sent home with half salary. Even as things begin to pick up at the council, Mayor Bernard Wagner says that they are still operating with […]
This morning, there was far more movement in the city and around the country as almost all businesses are now open and so did government offices and statutory boards. But there is still a curfew in place, from eight p.m. to five a.m. and eight p.m. to six p.m. for minors. But under the new […]
The pump price for diesel will finally go down tonight, but the decrease is not such a big one. At midnight, diesel drops by thirty-six cents to sell at seven dollars eighty-nine cents per gallon. But don’t expect other decreases because the prices for premium, regular gasoline and kerosene will remain unchanged at ten dollars […]
As there is a softening of the regulations and the economy is beginning to crank up, town and city councils countrywide are trying to figure out how to keep financially stable. In Orange Walk, Mayor Kevin Bernard did not fire any of the council’s employees, but says that while businesses reopen, the council will remain […]
A new statutory instrument to introduce another sixty-day state of emergency comes into effect on Friday. Since May first is a public and bank holiday in observance of Labor Day, the private sector, those businesses that have been forced to shut down their operations, will not resume until Saturday. This morning, the PM outlined a […]
Help is slow to come for thousands of Belizeans who continue to wait for unemployment assistance through the Government of Belize. More eight thousand persons applied but the process has proven to be tedious; one that sees a number of checks and balances, as well as errors being recorded during the application process. Earlier this […]
Now that there will be a relaxation of certain measures of the state of emergency, municipal governments are looking towards an improvement in revenue streams. Since April first, most departments closed and revenues dried up to less than ten percent. Earlier this week, traffic department services opened and it is expected that with the ease […]
A few days ago, we heard the cry from the Prime Minister that government is low on money and as you know, the public service, which accounts for one of government highest bills, has experienced delays in salaries. Today, the Financial Secretary Joseph Waight issued a memo on government’s cost savings measures at this time […]
Women leaders across the globe have shown to be the most responsive in battling the COVID-19 pandemic in countries such as New Zealand, Belgium and Finland. They have acted proactively in the decision making process and are better prepared in respect of medical gear for health workers and the population. Today, the CNN’s Christian Amanpour […]
Even as the Unemployment Relief Fund has closed to new applications, hundreds of affected Belizeans are still lining up hoping the get assistance. On Monday morning in Corozal Town, the line to the Social Security Board on Seventh Avenue was snaking for about a mile as men and women waited under very hot temperatures to […]
Globally, COVID-19 is having an impact on life as well on the business environment in significant ways. The Bowen and Bowen group has a workforce of over one thousand two hundred employees and is one of the largest employers in the production of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. The virus does not discriminate and has been […]
The economic picture for Belize remains grim and dismal, due to the new coronavirus crisis. Government’s revenue is falling by almost half a billion dollars as a result of the recent economic meltdown caused by the state of emergency imposed at the beginning of April. While several offices, including the Ministry of Natural Resources and […]
