Articles, both local and international, on the banking and financial sectors have prompted a reaction from the Bankers Association of Belize. Just last week, a US federal judge granted permission to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to seek information on US residents, who may have had bank accounts in Belize and have not complied with […]
The United States Treasury is tightening the noose on US citizens who hold accounts overseas and have not paid up taxes in the US. Essentially, a US Federal Judge today issued an order to allow the IRS to serve what it calls “John Doe Summons” to compel Citibank and Bank of America to provide information […]
With the annual general meeting scheduled for September twenty-ninth, Belize Telemedia has released its Financial Statements for the Year ending March 2015. The company has been at the center of public debate because after six years of legal wars, Government has agreed to settle compensation for its 2009 nationalization. Now, viewers will remember that shares […]
Still on the issue of the B.T.L. settlement, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry sent out a release today saying that while it had no fuss with the settlement of B.E.L. with Fortis, it was deeply concerned about the B.T.L. agreement. The Chamber says that the Prime Minister negotiated and bound our country to […]
The settlement of the Belize Telemedia Limited nationalization with the Ashcroft Group was signed on September eleventh, taken before Cabinet on September fourteenth…to the House on September fifteenth and today it was before the Senate. That body was asked to give the green light to the supplementary appropriation of one hundred and sixty-two million in […]
Senator for Government Business, Godwin Hulse, insists that the Senate is only being asked to approve the specific sum of one hundred and sixty-two million outlined in the schedule, and not the blank check as is being claimed. Putting it diplomatically, Opposition Senator Lisa Shoman says that’s just plain garbage. Lisa Shoman, Senator, People’s […]
As we told you, the settlement was penned and approved in both houses of the National Assembly in a matter of four business days. Senator Shoman says that’s just plain indecent haste, and claimed that Prime Minister Dean Barrow will rue the day he spawned this demon child. Lisa Shoman, Senator, People’s United Party […]
But blank check or not…the appropriation bill was pushed through the Senate today. According to Opposition Senator Anthony Sylvestre, all be told, the National Assembly has been asked to approve nearly two billion dollars in just this financial year – that’s billion with a B. Anthony Sylvestre, Senator, People’s United Party “In March, when […]
The sixty million plus dollars being paid in this first instance to the Ashcroft Group is based on an estimate share value of one dollar and forty-four cents. But when government sold shares in B.T.L. to S.S.B., for example, they did so for five dollars per share. So it’s very probably that the arbitration panel […]
The fact is that despite the fire and fury over the B.T.L. settlement today, any debate has been rendered purely academic because the government has the majority in the Senate. And that’s what happened today after a discussion which lasted almost three hours before ending with one statement of support and the wrap-up by the […]
While all the fireworks revolved around the B.T.L. settlement, the Senate also passed a vesting act which will facilitate the transfer of FCIB assets to the Heritage Bank. Members on the Opposition side did not receive their documents outlining the proposed Act until Monday, and Opposition Senator Lisa Shoman took issue with the late notice. […]
If you have been to the pump recently you would have noticed a drop in the prices of fuel. In the City since Wednesday, regular fuel has been selling at eight dollars and five cents, that’s a dip of ninety one cents per gallon. Diesel is retailing at six dollars and sixty cents, a reduction […]
And tonight’s question is: now that a deal to pay Fortis seventy million dollars plus thirty-three point three percent of shares has been sealed by G.O.B., was the acquisition of B.E.L. in the best interest of Belize? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll […]
On Monday Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced a settlement with Fortis on the arbitrary 2011 acquisition of that company’s shares in B.E.L. G.O.B. will be paying seventy million dollars to the Canadian company which will also get back thirty-three point three percent of shares in the company. At the time of acquisition, it owned seventy […]
The Government of Belize has gotten rid of one albatross which has been hanging around its neck since June 2011. That’s when government nationalized Belize Electricity Limited, seizing seventy percent of shares from Fortis, the Canadian company that has assets amounting to twenty-eight billion dollars. Fortis had initially challenged government’s takeover of B.E.L. and the […]
The Prime Minister says he is confident that the new and improved relationship will work out, and if it doesn’t, there is a clause which allows Fortis to sell its shares back to G.O.B. in four years. G.O.B. and the Social Security Board will also control the Board of Directors through its majority of nine […]
The matter of the settlement was taken to Cabinet in special session this morning, and will go before the House on Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday. The Governor General is expected to affix his signature by Friday. That means that the seventy million dollars will be paid to Fortis within a week with money […]
According to the Prime Minister lawyers for both parties are currently notifying the CCJ of the settlement so where litigation is concerned, the matter is done. The prime minister acknowledged his brother, Denys Barrow, as attorney for G.O.B. while Eamon Courtenay represents Fortis. So will the deal have any significant political impact when elections are […]
More Creole women are gainfully employed than Creole men. Unemployment figures improved slightly and the cost of living is down marginally when compared to the same period last year. Those are the stats provided by the Statistical Institute of Belize. But did you know that twenty-five percent of every hundred dollars is spent on accommodation […]
Mexico is one of Belize’s important trading partners, especially as it relates to agriculture and fisheries products. The trade and investment arm of the government, BELTRAIDE, is planning to increase exports across the borders. Today, a workshop with the private sector stakeholders and Mexican counterparts was held to explore the possibility of becoming the gateway […]
The Statistical Institute of Belize held a press conference this morning at the Lecture Hall of the Central Bank Building where the July 2015 External Trade Bulletin, the Consumer Price Index statistics, second quarter GDP figures, as well as the preliminary figures for the April 2015 Labor Force Survey were revealed. While the primary focus […]
For the past few weeks, we have been reporting about the Bank of America severing ties with banks in Belize. Since then, Heritage Bank has been put on notice that it will also be losing its correspondent banking relationship with Bank of America. The pulling out of BOA from the banks in Belize has been […]
Employment in Belize has been a hot-button issue for the public and private sector. Approximately forty percent of the country is poor and the unemployment rate is just as dismal. The unemployment figures in 2014 have been slightly lower when compared to 2013, but the decrease in joblessness in the city was eclipsed by an […]
The private and public sectors met today in what was being dubbed as an economic dialogue. While a majority of the session was closed to the media, we were able to speak earlier this afternoon with the Chief Executive Officer of Mahogany Bay Village. According to Beth Clifford, the idea is for a joint initiative […]
An article entitled “Seven Countries Near Bankruptcy” was published on August eighth listing Belize, along with Jamaica, Argentina, Belarus, Greece, Venezuela and Ukraine, as countries in precarious financial state and at risk of default. Of the seven countries, the article says, “…which still carries a significant credit risk. These countries are approaching or have narrowly […]
