Sugar has been counted out more times than the Chicago Cubs; not bad for an industry that in 2003 still brought in more money than any other crop. Today in Orange Walk Town News 5’s Patrick Jones attended a gathering that looked at the future of king cane and found–not surprisingly–that its crown is in […]
With very little time for sleep after Friday’s marathon budget debate, Minister of Finance Ralph Fonseca spent the weekend hosting top-level meetings with his regional counterparts and Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank. The meetings centred on several issues including international economic conditions and good governance. The conference also examined the recent bank collapse in […]
We don’t know what they will be carrying in their wallets, but between them, the group of two dozen or so visitors coming to Belize this weekend control the wealth of eight nations and the region’s most important lending institution. On Saturday, only a day after government defends its budget in the House of Representatives, […]
Less than a month ago consumers took a hit when the price of butane gas rose by four dollars per hundred pound cylinder. Tonight we learn that your next tank will cost six dollars more. That’s right, the new control price has risen to seventy-seven dollars in Belize City, seventy-nine in Belmopan and San Ignacio, […]
The 2004-05 budget was presented today in Belmopan and the man doing the presenting was none other than the Minister of Finance, Ralph Fonseca. Fonseca insisted that despite criticisms, G.O.B. stayed within its budget last year and intends to do so again this year. Education and health will be the priorities and the expectation is […]
It is an issue that’s a growing concern for government officials… energy: its production, distribution, and conservation. With that in mind, a joint commission comprised of representatives of the public, private, and non-governmental sectors has been working for the past year, investigating safe, affordable, environmentally friendly ways of producing energy. Head of the Project Steering […]
A few weeks ago we reported the preliminary figures but now the numbers are official. 2003 was by far Belize’s biggest year ever for tourism. Tourist arrivals at the Philip Goldson International Airport increased by seventeen point two percent over 2002 while arrivals at Belize’s other entry points rose by eleven point one percent. And […]
We hear a lot these days about encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit in Belizean young people and several programmes have been established to provide loans for enterprising youths. But between receiving their investment funds and retiring as millionaires lies an invariably difficult journey. Today I joined a group of budding business people as they received training […]
The Public Utilities Commission is best known for its role as a regulator of monopoly industries…but it also has a lesser-known function as a promoter and planner. Today the P.U.C. sponsored a meeting in Belize City with the objective of expanding our energy horizons. Patrick Jones reports. Patrick Jones, Reporting For years, the sugar cane […]
And while scientists and economists discuss the feasibility of ethanol, Belizean consumers are once again being forced to pay higher prices for fossil fuels. A government release informs us that as of today increased acquisition costs for imported butane have resulted in a four dollar increase in the control price of a hundred pound cylinder. […]
To many of us the numerous acronyms surrounding the world’s current trade negotiations are nothing more than a bewildering bowl of alphabet soup. But, according to one expert, that food can either poison or nourish us. Patrick Jones reports. Patrick Jones, Reporting The establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas will expose Belize’s […]
In terms of financial muscle, the Holy Redeemer Credit Union has long been playing in the big leagues side by side with Belize’s major banks. But with access to only a limited range of services, many H.R.C.U. members still had to rely on the commercial banks to handle their financial needs. But times are changing, […]
Even though we’ve been conditioned to expect nothing but good news from Belize’s booming tourism industry, the latest statistics are still pretty mind-boggling. For the first eleven months of the year, tourist arrivals at the Philip Goldson International Airport, the nation’s primary port of entry, are up an astounding eighteen point one percent over 2002. […]
It was not a particularly well-kept secret, but today government announced the identities of those concerns who will be taking over control of the Philip Goldson International Airport. The investment consortium is comprised of three local groups and two from abroad. The Belizeans are the Mena group based in Belmopan, the Roe group, and a […]
It appeared in the newspapers two week ago… two full-page advertisements naming over a hundred and fourteen cooperatives and credit unions that are on the chopping block. But lest anyone get the wrong idea, Registrar of Cooperatives and Credit Unions Zenaida Moya says this is a routine exercise designed to purge the national register of […]
On Tuesday night, Atlantic Bank officially launched its much-anticipated online internet banking services. Customers will now be able to inquire about their checking, savings, time deposits and loan accounts, while corporate customers can do their payroll, payments to suppliers and any other third parties with the new service. According to the bank’s General Manager, Sandra […]
The Government of Belize today confirmed what the Opposition announced yesterday: that is, the impending sale of majority ownership of Belize Telecommunications Limited. According to a release today from the Government Press Office, Michael Ashcroft’s Carlisle Group has agreed to sell its fifty-two point four-six percent interest in B.T.L. for a price of fifty-two million […]
It’s a little known programme with big bucks to assist business people in the African, Caribbean, and Pacific block of nations. And today PROINVEST, through its local counterpart, the Belize Chamber of Commerce, hosted a seminar to explain to local entrepreneurs how to access the project’s money. According to the Chamber’s Director of Membership Services, […]
If the streets of Belize City looked a bit more crowded than usual today, it was because there were four cruise ships in the harbour. That event, the first of many such days between now and next April, marks the unofficial opening of the high cruise season. This morning at the Tourism Village there were […]
The announcement came in the form of a government press release issued this evening after the close of business hours…but the impact of the news will be far reaching. After several years of negotiating with a subsidiary of Lufthansa Airlines to take over management of the Philip Goldson International Airport, Government has decided to award […]
The Central Bank of Belize today moved to calm fears over the lack of money in the private banking system available for lending. A Central Bank release issued this afternoon admits that liquidity is tight and that the commercial banks have been asked to shift their lending priorities from consumer loans to the productive sector […]
In all the election excitement this week’s Cabinet meeting didn’t get much notice, but members of Belize’s tourism industry might want to log on to the Press Office’s website and check out the new cruise ship policy. The policy increases the visitation limit at the Belize City Port to eight thousand people per day and […]
Prices are not what they should be and production has yet to return to record levels…but tonight there is optimism in Belize’s citrus industry, an optimism based on improved competitive efficiency and the fact that for the first time growers are the masters of their own fate. Patrick Jones reports on this weekend’s activities in […]
It happened without so much as a peep, but motorists who pulled up to gas stations this morning were greeted with the news that fuel prices had actually gone down. As of midnight last night, the pump price for a gallon of premium gasoline fell by twelve cents to seven dollars and twenty-five cents. Regular […]
The pledge was made back in September that the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair would fund a project for businesspeople in Guatemala and Belize to explore opportunities in each other’s country. And while no money has so far been disbursed, the project came one step closer to implementation today with the formal signing […]
