The Minister of Tourism may have changed, but the numbers coming out of the Tourism Board remain the same. According to the B.T.B., figures for the first four months of the year show continued strong growth in both the overnight and cruise sectors of the industry. Total non-cruise arrivals at all border points from January […]
Belize is anticipating significant savings on the cost of petroleum under the recently signed agreement between Venezuela and thirteen Caribbean countries. At least that’s the word from Cabinet. In a statement released today and included in the regular press briefing on yesterday’s Cabinet session, government said that as a signatory to the Petrocaribe Energy Cooperation […]
In other news from Cabinet, that body has taken a number of policy decisions. Among them are initiatives to better regulate the growing yacht charter industry and promote tourism by private aircraft. The idea is to make entry procedures for private planes more efficient, while at the same time maintaining necessary security measures at the […]
And while that was the extent of revelations from Cabinet, Smith, as has become customary, also took questions from the floor on a wide range of topics. When asked by News Five for the status of the proposed Carnival cruise port in Belize City, the Minister of Tourism was upbeat. Godfrey Smith, Minster of Tourism […]
They were introduced in 2002 as a way to regularize the free wheeling market in foreign exchange and put pressure on the banks, which previously held a monopoly on legal currency transactions. But most mainstream economists never did like the casas de cambio and saw them merely as legal fig leaf to permit the big […]
It was the only real piece of new news to emerge from the visit of Mexican President Vicente Fox; that is the announcement that neighbouring oil giant PEMEX would be opening a gas station in Belize. The move was hailed by the Prime Minister as an important breakthrough, and he held out the prospect that […]
In related news, we have been informed by Jeffrey Prosser’s Innovative Communication Corporation that, in addition to its ongoing lawsuit against the Belize Government in Miami, it has given G.O.B. notice that it will seek binding arbitration in the hope of recovering another two hundred million dollars in damages. The arbitration emerges from the terms […]
A new Accountant General took up her post today. Anita Eck is succeeding Carmen Barrow who will become the Technical Coordinator for the Tax Reform Process in the Ministry of Finance. Eck has been working with the Government of Belize since 2001 and has served as Director of Budget and Finance in both the Ministry […]
Tonight a confusing press release printed in the local media has added yet another bizarre twist to the fiasco that has become the sale of Belize Telecommunications Limited. This is the latest development: a statement from Ecom claiming that “public comment has sought to suggest that the Government intends to divest twelve point five percent […]
For the past two weeks, more than twenty tax officials representing governments from the Caribbean have gathered in Belize City to participate in an annual workshop concentrating on financial auditing and fraud awareness. According to the coordinator, St. Lucia’s Averil James, the event is facilitated by the Caribbean Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (CAROSAI) and […]
The Special Senate Select Committee investigating the Social Security Board’s investments held its fifth public hearing today, and if there was a catch phrase for the session, it was “to the best of my knowledge”. With no less than six high profile witnesses called to testify, today’s proceedings were fraught with finger pointing, as each […]
Second to appear before the Senate panel was Financial Secretary Dr. Carla Barnett. Barnett informed the committee that the Government of Belize continues to make payments to the International Bank of Miami for telecommunication services by the defunct Intelco and payments for the Glenn Godfrey related loans guaranteed by the Social Security Board, including what […]
Next to testify was Roberto Bautista, an employee of the D.F.C. for more than twenty-five years, having served as a director, the chief operations officer, and as the secretary of the Belize Mortgage Company, the Cayman Islands entity created as the “special vehicle” to allow for the North American securitisation programme. In his testimony, Bautista […]
Before breaking for lunch, the Senators would also hear statements from the Governor of the Central Bank, Sydney Campbell. Campbell’s contribution focused mainly on the bank’s technical role in crediting the millions of dollars sent to the S.S.B.’s account at the Central Bank for the St. James mortgage flows, via the Hibernia National Bank in […]
Last to face the music this afternoon was General Manager of the Belize Social Security Board, Narda Garcia. In what was also her second appearance before the committee, Garcia told the panel that when she listened on her car radio to Glenn Godfrey’s June ninth testimony she “ran off the road.” Narda Garcia, General Manager, […]
Following the announcement of plans by the Mexican oil giant PEMEX to open a gas station in Belize, this afternoon Prime Minister Said Musa was upbeat on the prospects for competition in the fuel sector. Prime Minister Said Musa ?As you know, the oil price situation is a very difficult one for our countries, not […]
Next on the itinerary was a business luncheon at the George Price Centre. Speaking on behalf of Belize’s private sector was Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Chairman of the Board at the University of Belize. Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Chairman, U.B. Board ?Even though our imports from Mexico were four point four times that of our exports to […]
All motorists in Belize are feeling the weight of exorbitant fuel rates due to the high percentage of tax being paid into the government’s coffers every time they fill their tanks. But now Belize City taxi drivers report they are facing yet another tax, this time on the use of city streets. News Five spoke […]
The Ministry of Finance and Central Bank today issued a joint press release which offers their version of a controversial financial transaction that cost the government over three million U.S. dollars. According to the release, the proposal to convert a twenty-nine point one million U.S. dollar loan note into Japanese Yen came from Citibank of […]
It came as no surprise that today at the sitting of the House of Representatives, the Musa administration announced tax increases for locally produced beer, cigarettes, and rum, as well as rate hikes in Stamp Duties for certain land transactions. And with tensions running high over the state of the country’s finances, Belmopan had prepared […]
The first member of the House to rise and object to the B.T.L. motion was in fact, not the Leader of the Opposition, but rather P.U.P. backbencher and representative for the Albert constituency, Mark Espat. First, Espat complained that he had only been given a few hours to review the motion… but that time proved […]
In his presentation to the House, Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow spoke of the about face the Musa administration appeared to be taking regarding Michael Ashcroft and his Ecom. Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition ?Can the Prime Minister, Madam Speaker, seriously think that it is okay to come to us today and without […]
The only member to speak on the amendments to the brewery act was the representative for Lake Independence, Cordel Hyde, who maintained that the taxes should be increased to a much higher level than the government proposed today. Cordel Hyde, Area Rep., Lake Independence ?Raise the excise tax on beer to twelve dollars, tax the […]
Another hot issue that has been bubbling on the streets of Belize City this week were allegations that the Government of Belize had done business transactions on the derivatives market. As we understand it, what G.O.B. did was to use millions of U.S. dollars it borrowed from Solomon Smith and Barney and convert it to […]
At Friday’s House meeting the government, under the terms of the new Finance and Audit Act, will disclose its plans to sell its thirty-seven point five percent stake in B.T.L. It is understood that a portion of those shares will be sold to Michael Ashcroft for U.S. currency and a portion will be made available […]
