But still there is not going to be an audit of the finances at City Hall under the stewardship of Mayor Zenaida Moya, not before the March fourth elections, despite repeated calls for one and all the hype about accountability and transparency. Yesterday, the Mayor told News Five to expect one today, but what landed […]
Grace Kennedy and Company Limited is a conglomerate headquartered in Jamaica. The Grace Kennedy Group comprises a varied network of sixty subsidiaries and associated companies located across the Caribbean and in North and Central America and the United Kingdom. Their operations span the food distribution, financial, insurance, hardware retailing and food-processing industries. The success of […]
It is one food item that shot up by fifty percent in one year alone and had been vexing consumers. But tonight we can report that the price of flour has finally gone down reflecting decreases in prices of wheat internationally. According to a government release, the new maximum wholesale price of La Gitana flour, […]
Earlier in the newscast we reported on developments in the Belize Bank and NEWCO. And in the no holds barred interview Lord Ashcroft also had his thoughts on the Prime Minister’s stimulus plan. Here is what he had to say… Lord Michael Ashcroft “To put it in its simplest sense, a stimulus is meant to […]
When last we checked about the official audit of the Belize City Council’s books by the Ministry of Local Government, we were told it was still not ready. And while the wheels of bureaucracy appear to be churning slow to deliver on the audit called for by one of the councilors, Mark King, last year […]
During last Wednesday’s consultation in Belize City, Prime Minister Dean Barrow made the announcement that the budget presentation to the House of Representatives would be on February twenty-seventh. But tonight News Five has confirmed that the House meeting has been pushed back to March sixth, just two days after the municipal elections and cutting it […]
In other economic news, the global crisis is affecting all financial sectors and reports in the international media are that it has hit home with the Inter-American Development Bank. Internal documents reveal that in 2008, the institution’s investment portfolio lost an estimated one point nine billion dollars. The losses are estimated to be ten to […]
With the new fiscal year quickly approaching and a sixty million dollar deficit that needs financing, GOB has received some good news of sorts and that is that Belize has received favourable bond ratings from an international rating agency. In a news release issued on Tuesday, Moody’s Investor Service upgraded government’s ratings from a status […]
In the past four months, there have been four changes to the price of the cylinder of butane gas. The last three were decreases in the months of November and December of 2008 and in January of 2009. But it’s a whole new year and the price is creeping back up again; this time by […]
It was not the quarterly press conference but there was plenty economic information and more coming from the P.M. today at a budget consultation in Belize City. And the picture looks bleak. The Financial year begins on April first, and the budget for 2009/2010 is still on the drawing board but a draft report on […]
But what about the soaring cost of living, which has gone up by an average of six point four percent? This is one area that Belizeans have for months been expressing major concerns. The PM admittedly was unaware why prices had increased. Prime Minister Dean Barrow “I really am unclear as to what is happening. […]
And one more bit on the budget consultations, a round table discussion with key agencies and groups managed under a joint UNDP/UB project and headed by Dr. Carla Barnett concluded the event today. Barnett says consultations were extensive. Dr. Carla Barnett, Advisor to G.O.B. “The meetings were held with individual sectors, so they’ve not had […]
The Public Utilities Commission has once again lowered electricity rates; this time by six point six cents. According to a release issued this evening, this latest amendment to the 2008 Annual Review Proceeding Final Decision was undertaken after a process of consultation and represents a fifteen percent reduction in the Mean Electricity Rate. The new […]
The sustained cane farmers strike in the sugar belt continues to cripple one of the most vital sectors of the economy in respect of hard currency earnings and employment, direct and otherwise. And there is more bad economic news to report that can potentially magnify the country’s fiscal woes. This comes from a recently released […]
Last week, the Government finally announced a two hundred million dollar loan package it called its “stimulus plan” to crank-up the economy that is being affected by the global downturn and the losses in projected revenue from various sectors. But it is still not clear how it will be implemented or if it will provide […]
We know from the P.U.C. that for now light bills are not going down but if you went to fill up on gas this morning, you may have noticed that you are getting less gallons of gasoline per dollar and that is because the cost of fuel is up again. As of twelve midnight, the […]
We reported last Wednesday that the P.U.C. was delaying the implementation of the amendments to its 2008 Final Decision… and today they issued an official release saying just that. According to the P.U.C., the delay is so as to undertake a public consultation and it is inviting interested persons to send in written comments. The […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s quarterly press conference was held this morning. The topics varied from hot button issues on Jalacte and the economy, which is where we’ll start tonight. It is no secret that countries around the world are grappling with the economic recession… and Belize is no different. Inflation is up, tourist arrivals are […]
It comes as no surprise, but recently released figures from the Statistical Institute of Belize reveals that in 2008 prices shot up where it hurts the most: food and medical care. According to S.I.B., last year consumers paid fifty percent more for flour, thirty-five percent more for rice, and about sixteen percent more for chicken. […]
And while statistics were dismal in 2008 in prices of food and medical care, there is some news that will delight consumers since the price of cooking gas, has gone down again. According to a release late this evening, the Belize Press Office, G.O.B. has approved a decrease in the maximum retail price of a […]
The issue is still tied up in the courts–the millions of dollars from the government of Venezuela to the government of Belize gifted in December, 2007. But this afternoon the government announced how the twenty million dollars it got from the Belize Bank back in August will be dispersed, as to when, it is still […]
At this afternoon’s conference, Minister of NEMO Melvin Hulse gave a rundown of how his ministry spent the one point five million dollars. Melvin Hulse, Minister of NEMO “There was repair of homes, installation of the structure—particularly the framework structure involving the floors and the ceilings—lifting of homes; wherever possible it was done six feet […]
Tourism is big business in Belize… even with the slump that we have been experiencing in tourist arrivals it continues to remain an economic priority. And while the Ministry of Tourism is looking at various means of re-attracting visitors to the country, for BTIA member and consultant Valerie Woods, there are still a lot of […]
Later in the newscast we’ll have a report of a cargo vessel that beached in the area of Southern Long Caye earlier today. But first, this story on the financial woes of the Belize Electricity Limited. That utility company has been mum on last week’s decision by the Public Utilities Commission to amend its 2008 […]
On Wednesday, the Public Utilities Commission announced that they had made an amendment to the June 2008 annual review proceeding final decision. The big news coming out of the amendment was that the there will be a twelve percent reduction in rates for consumers for the first six months of this change. At a press […]
