Last week we reported on figures from the Statistical Institute which showed a contraction of the G.D.P. by two point two percent and that the economic downturn was hitting most sectors. Tonight there is more bad news to add to the woes of consumers. Word from the Public Utilities Commission is that the Belize Water […]
“I have no doubt that the overflow problems presented by a world in crisis cannot defeat, or even too long detain, the Belizean people,” Prime Minister Barrow asserted in the conclusion of his presentation for the 2009 Fiscal Budget on March sixth of this year. Well, figures released today by the Statistical Institute of Belize […]
Members of the Belize Tourism Industry Association and other industry stakeholders gathered today at the Radisson for B.T.I.A.’s Bi-Annual General Meeting. The event usually serves the dual purpose of bringing members together for an update on the status of the tourism industry as well as to encourage new members to sign up. As expected, the […]
Monday’s drop of ten percent in the price of flour has brought some relief to consumers. And according to the Supplies Control Unit, the price on the twenty-four pound bag of La Gitana Soft Wheat Flour is now sixty-three dollars. In the City, the flour is now retailing at seventy-three cents per pound, in Belmopan […]
There is some grim news to report tonight that spell hard days ahead due to a weakened fiscal position. The Report of the I.M.F. is hot off the press and it essentially confirms what most observers have been anticipating; that the economy is expected to slow down in 2009 due in large part to the […]
The cost of fuel at the pump increased on Monday by sixty cents per gallon, but there is a bit of good news to report in respect of butane prices. Government announced today an immediate decrease of three dollars in the price of a hundred pound cylinder of butane. Belize City and Corozal residents will […]
And there’s some bad news at the fuel pumps. The price of regular gasoline will increase by sixty cents on Monday, bringing it to seven dollars and ninety cents. The price premium and diesel will not be affected. Premium remains at seven dollars and sixty-six cents and diesels at six dollars and thirteen cents. This […]
The Belize Electricity Limited has been in the headlines for some time over a number of issues ranging from court battles with the Public Utilities Commission, a claim it is bankrupt and electricity rates. But tonight B.E.L. is finding comfort in a survey which says the utility company is charging the second lowest electricity rates […]
While we wait to see the depth of the sympathy that the U.S. congressmen have for CARICOM’s offshore banking sector, there were very immediate and positive results coming from Canada and the United States regarding the boosting of international lending institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank. Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pledged five […]
The increases in the prices of fuel since April first, has prompted reaction from the People’s United Party. In a release issued today the opposition quotes verbatim from a statement in the House of Representatives on March sixth, when P.M. Barrow proposed a fuel tax of one dollar per gallon on gasoline and diesel to […]
If you have been to the gas stations you would have felt another pinch in your pocket with the second increase in the price of fuel at the pump for this month. Only three weeks ago, on April first, the price of fuel was raised by a dollar and thirty-five cents. And since that had […]
The price of chicken went down on Wednesday and today the price of a hundred pound cylinder of butane gas has changed by three dollars… but it is not three dollars less, you will now pay three dollars more for butane gas. In Belize City and Corozal butane has gone up to ninety dollars. In […]
Belize Electricity Limited has been in the news consistently and often in a back and forth exchange with the Public Utilities Commission. Late this evening, the utility company announced May fourteenth as the date for its annual general meeting which will present a report to shareholders on the company’s performance for 2008. In an advance […]
If you plan to buy poultry, hold up because as of Thursday, the price of chicken will go down. And you will be glad to know that it is going down by ten cents per pound. According to a release from the Poultry Association, the new price is two dollars and twenty-eight cents per pound. […]
There is good news coming from the Belize Poultry Association tonight and it is just in time for Easter. In a meeting of egg producers last Friday, it was decided that since production has improved, the price of eggs is going down with immediate effect. If you purchase eggs individually you may not see the […]
We reported on Thursday’s newscast that B.E.L. had applied for a six percent reduction in electricity rates for the year July first, 2009 to June thirtieth 2010. And in a follow up to that story, a release by the P.U.C. late in the evening, quickly shot down the request. According to the P.U.C, B.E.L. did […]
B.E.L. made a surprise announcement today that will be good news to consumers if agreed to by the P.U.C. This comes on the heels of an injunction granted by the Supreme Court on February twenty-sixth to the utility company not to proceed with a rate decrease that would have lowered the cost of electricity to […]
The increase we are proposing is only one dollar per gallon on gasolines and diesel.” Those were Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s words when he spoke of the new Revenue Replacement Duty on fuel prices when he introduced the 2009/ 2010 budget on March sixth. The PM is projecting to raise thirty million dollars through the […]
Belize Natural Energy is the only oil company to extract and export commercial quantities of petroleum from Belize’s soil. It is estimated that from 2005 to 2008 B.N.E. earned three hundred and thirty-four million dollars. On July sixteenth, 2008, Prime Minister Dean Barrow introduced the windfall tax from which the government would share fifty-fifty any […]
The debate for the 2009 to 2010 budget in the House of Representatives begins tomorrow and the Prime Minister Dean Barrow hopes to raise thirty million dollars through a fuel tax. But tonight already we can report that the price of fuel has shot up. Premium gasoline is up by forty-one cents and is now […]
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) have signed a memorandum of agreement. The project seeks to increase small farmers’ productivity for income and employment generation in rural communities and to strengthen small farmer’s capacity. The contract is co-financed by the European Union, who is contributing almost […]
For months Belize Electricity Limited C.E.O., Lynn Young, has remained silent on the company’s ongoing disagreements with the Public Utilities Commission. This morning, however, Young appeared as a guest on Open Your Eyes, breaking his silence. The C.E.O. maintains that when the price of oil skyrocketed in early to mid 2008, they experienced severe financial […]
Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court granted Belize Electricity Limited an injunction which effectively barred the Public Utilities Commission from implementing its new reduced rates until the matter has been settled in court. This afternoon the Public Utilities Commission took B.E.L. to task for statements made after the injunction including one, that they are experiencing a […]
Fuel prices are going down at midnight. But is it a gimmick to sweeten the teapot on the heels of the municipal elections on Wednesday? Prices last went up in late January and at twelve am tonight, Diesel will go down thirty six cents to four dollars and forty cents; Regular will go down fifty […]
Light bills will not go down… at least for now and that is because on Wednesday the Supreme Court approved an injunction against the Public Utilities Commission’s Amendment to the June 2008 Final Decision. In the Amendment the P.U.C., on February sixth, reduced the mean electricity rate by seven cents to thirty-seven point five cents […]
