Earlier in the newscast, we told you about the water problems, and if that were not enough, San Pedro residents just found out via their new property tax bills that the San Pedro Town Council will increase the rates. This was unwelcomed and burdensome news to the island’s business community which is already grappling with […]
The Public Utilities Commission has approved an increase in water rates. The new rates took effect on April first, at the same time the dreaded increase of an overall twelve and a half percent tax on GST came on line. Though the water increase isn’t the twenty-five percent initially requested by Belize Water Services Ltd. […]
If you plan to drive to your destination for the long holiday weekend, it would have been wise to fill up on Wednesday. Though there were no official releases from the government, the price of fuel at the pump went up across the board. Before midnight, super or premium stood at nine dollars and sixty- […]
Just a week after Prime Minister Dean Barrow painted a grim picture about the economic prospects for the new fiscal year, the Public Utilities Commission made that picture even bleaker when today it announced that water rates will go up. In a press release today from the P.U.C., it announced that it approves a twelve […]
Senator Lisa Shoman joined the choir in denouncing the budget and the cuts. But she felt security is the main issue close to the hearts of most Belizeans. According to Shoman, the Police Department is one part of the Ministry of National Security that has been a victim of budget cuts. Lisa Shoman, Senator […]
As we told you earlier Senator Godwin Hulse did not support the budget in line with the position taken by the Belize Chamber of Commerce. When he took the floor he also spoke specifically about the Income and Business Tax amendment and the effect on electricity generation. In his view, the BELCOGEN, the power generation […]
The budget has been approved and it’s not only the opposition party that found issues with it. On Thursday the private sector wrote to the Prime Minister expressing their position against the budget. In an eight page letter, the Chamber Commerce raises serious concerns that the government intends to spend more than it earns, by […]
With the passage of the 2010/2011 budget a number of measures will take effect that will burden consumers. Of the new taxes to take effect on April first, the GST which will now go up to twelve point five percent, is the one tax that will be felt across the board. This tax alone will […]
The increase of twenty-five percent on GST will hit consumers on April first. And if you are bracing to now pay twelve point five percent in the sales tax, hold on because fuel prices have just gone up again. That’s despite a promise made by the government to keep prices below the seven dollar price […]
It’s among the top foreign exchange earners, but the ripple effect of the global economic meltdown has been taking a toll on the tourism industry. The sentiment among tour guides, hoteliers and other stakeholders is that as much as the numbers may not have decreased significantly, both overnight and cruise tourists are not spending the […]
The fiscal budget for the upcoming financial year was announced on Monday and we are still doing the math on a number of issues in the sixty-one million dollar deficit budget. Firstly, we look at the issue of income tax. Prime Minister Dean Barrow was obviously pleased to say that those persons earning less than […]
Still on the budget, Prime Minister Dean Barrow on Monday announced what was widely expected, that he would raise taxes in light of a new budget deficit in the region of sixty-one million dollars. Government is expecting to raise about one hundred and nine million dollars in the additional taxes, a figure that pales in […]
Less than a month after P.M. Barrow’s blunt announcement that things will be considerably harder in the upcoming fiscal year, Belizeans will have to go even deeper into their pockets. Fuel prices once again climbed above the nine dollar margin on Tuesday. The increase caught many by surprise and from what we found out at […]
The government is facing its second annual budget with a deficit of about sixty million dollars. While GOB is still grappling on how to bridge the budget and keep the economy afloat, an initiative funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and executed by the Ministry of Economic Development is looking twenty years into the Jewel’s […]
The sixty million dollar projected deficit for the budget for the next fiscal year, as heard from the lips of Prime Minister Dean Barrow on Wednesday, continues to resonate in all sectors. When he was asked how the sixty million dollar deficit would be bridged, the PM’s coy response was that he didn’t want to […]
Turning to the economy, it’s no secret that “haad” times are hitting home and that little under fifty percent of the population is now considered poor according to a Poverty Assessment report. With the economic and social picture already dismal, Prime Minister Dean Barrow, warned on Wednesday at his first press conference for the year, […]
Planning for the Belize Rural Finance Program has been in the works for the past two years. And finally today in Belmopan, the Belize Credit Union League and the government announced that they are ready to implement micro financing to at least fifteen thousand households in rural areas to the tune of six million dollars. […]
Brace up because the worst is yet to come. That’s because the economy is not a dark cloud looming over the Barrow administration, it’s a potential hurricane on the horizon. Prime Minister Barrow admitted that Quote “The upcoming fiscal year will be the hardest of the UDP term.” End Quote. And that is because there […]
But what about the revenues from oil profits? According to their data, Belize Natural Energy’s gross revenue from petroleum production is three hundred and twenty-six point one U.S. million. The government’s share is seventy-eight point five million dollars. BNE claims it only receives fifty five point five million dollars. But the largest share, sixty percent […]
The Belize Water Services applied for a twenty-five percent increase in rates in 2009 and today they got the nod from an independent expert, but not for the full amount. The Public Utilities Commission has received a report on the ongoing Full Tariff Review Proceeding from the independent expert, Dr. Richard Hern. Hern was appointed […]
In Wednesday night’s newscast you heard the Chief Executive Officer of Belize Natural Energy Limited, Dr. Gilbert Canton, presenting figures that his company claims represent government’s total royalties collected up to the end of 2009 in oil revenue. Canton said that government got fifty-eight percent and forty-two percent went to BNE. He claimed that BNE’s […]
Revenues from the oil industry have been under the microscope for some time; the public outcry intensified in recent days when information not known in Belize was published across the continent in Ireland to the effect that Belize Natural Energy was making big bucks while benefits to the country are yet to be seen. On […]
The wealth from fuel production in the Cayo District has not had any real signs of trickling down to the residents of the area, and now the discovery of another commercial well has set off a firestorm of complaints. That’s because the revenues collected by government are not adding up while the investors are raking […]
Cho also dropped a bombshell. And like the national anthem says, nature HAS blessed us with wealth untold because according to Cho, there are now revenues being earned from the exploration of gold. But don’t start rejoicing yet, because that gold is being mined in the Chiquibul National Reserve, an area that is prone to […]
The price of fuel went up in the first week of the year and now it’s cooking gas that’s going up… and it’s no minor increase. In fact, the price per hundred pound cylinder of butane is taking an alarming ten dollar jump beginning Saturday. What’s worse is that it follows a seven dollar increase […]
