Trade relations between Belize and Guatemala improved this week with the settlement of a working agreement between agriculture ministers from both countries. According to a government press release, newly appointed Guatemalan Minister, Ingenerio Sett Oliva, met with Belize’s Servulo Baeza during a working visit last week in Guatemala City. The two countries have agreed on […]
A settlement of the Guatemalan claim may still be elusive, but that hasn’t stopped Belize’s business community from exploring opportunities across the border. Patrick Jones reports on the latest efforts at regional integration. Arturo Vasquez, Vice President, B.C.C.I. “What the Chamber plans to do with this really, is because we are now affiliated and associated […]
If you’ve been to the cayes, Cayo, Placencia or any other of Belize’s tourism hotspots you’d know that, considering the time of year, business has been pretty good. And now we have the numbers to prove it. According to a release from the Belize Tourism Board, tourist arrivals at the Philip Goldson International Airport for […]
Coming off the worst week of blackouts in a decade, the timing could not have been worse for Belize Electricity Limited. But tonight at the company’s annual general meeting, B.E.L. will prefer to look toward a brighter future. With their recent problems hopefully behind them, shareholders will actually hear some good news. Energy sales increased […]
With an economy perhaps fifty times bigger than ours, there doesn’t seem to be much incentive for the Guatemalan private sector to concern itself with doing business in Belize. But even in the world of international commerce, the saying “one-one fill basket” still applies…as News 5’s Janelle Chanona found out this morning at the Biltmore. […]
Beginning June second don’t be surprised if you notice something a little bit different on the bills in your wallet. On that day, the Central Bank of Belize will put into circulation a modified issue of the 1998 upgraded family of banknotes, beginning with the twenty and hundred dollar series. The new bills still have […]
When business is good, the people at the Belize Tourism Board are always eager to keep the media supplied with the numbers that prove it. And in 2003, it appears that business is very good. The latest figures on April tourist arrivals at the P.G.I.A. show an almost unbelievable increase of over thirty-five percent in […]
But as well as things are going in the tourism sector, the economy of Belize is a lot bigger than just tourism. Agriculture remains the economic pillar of Belize and a quick roundup of the four major export crops indicates that 2003 will see stability in three areas and explosive growth in the fourth. For […]
Belizeans planning to hit the road and the sea will have some extra beer money for the long holiday weekend, thanks to a timely reduction in the worldwide price of petroleum products. That drop, due largely to the winding down of the war in Iraq, has resulted in an across the board decrease in prices […]
The same factors bringing down gasoline prices are also responsible for reductions in the control price of butane. Those new rates per hundred pound cylinder, effective Thursday, are seventy dollars in Belize City, seventy-two in Belmopan, seventy-three in San Ignacio, seventy-four in Benque, sixty-nine in Orange Walk and Corozal, seventy in Dangriga and seventy-one in […]
It’s called the Technical Assistance for Capacity Building for Trade and Investment Promotion Project…but don’t let the long name fool you…there’s a very simple objective behind all that jargon. A joint venture between the Government of Belize, via BELTRAIDE and the Inter-American Development Bank, what this initiative aims to do is develop already established Belizean […]
Globalisation…it’s a term routinely tossed around by politicians, the media and the public…but what does it mean? Despite different definitions, the reality is that for small countries like Belize, globalisation is largely bad news. Within that context, the academic community of the Caribbean has enlisted Sir Shridath Ramphal, Chancellor of the University of the West […]
Among all the government ministries, departments and statuary bodies, it is the one entity that consistently blows its own horn the loudest. And for good reason. In the face of war, terrorism, hurricanes, recession, and fear of flying, Belize’s tourism industry has not only held its own, but consistently grown and prospered. Much of the […]
Rumours and gossip are the daily bread of the news business and over the last week a very load whisper making the rounds in the business community was the alleged sale of the Bowen and Bowen group of companies: that’s right, according to the rumour mill, the brewery, soft drink plant and Crystal water operation […]
The shock at the gasoline pump that Belizeans have been expecting since last week will have to wait a few days more as we are informed that the Esso tanker first scheduled for Friday, then predicted for today, has been further delayed until Wednesday. Officials at the petroleum distribution companies tell News 5 that while […]
As the war in Iraq intensifies toward a likely climax next week, there are signs that the expected negative impact on Belize and the rest of the world may be less severe than previously anticipated. Sources in the tourism industry indicate that while there have been some short term cancellations due to fear of flying, […]
It’s been part of the “dalla” division for decades…dalla bread, dalla chicken and even dalla beer; but this week, bread says goodbye to its buddies. According to local bakers, rising production costs have forced them to increase the price of bread by twenty-five cents. Zebedee Pitterson, the owner of Sunnyside Bakery, says the industry is […]
With war in Iraq perhaps only days away, and Venezuela still reeling from months of political turmoil, it is a worldwide fact of life that petroleum prices are going through the roof. Today, Belize felt the hard pinch of that reality once again as the control price of butane gas took another leap. Here are […]
We know this may be getting a little boring…but there is more evidence today that the tourism industry, already the major engine of the nation’s economic growth, is getting even bigger. Statistics just released by the Immigration Department indicate that January arrivals at the Philip Goldson International Airport set a new all time record. The […]
Worldwide petroleum prices continue to climb, but for the moment at least, consumers in Belize will be insulated from the financial shock. A release today from the Ministry of Finance indicates that while the landed cost of the latest fuel shipment rose an average of ten cents per gallon, government has reduced its rate of […]
Some rough figures had been quoted by the politicians, but today the Immigration Department confirmed that Belize’s tourism industry has made a remarkable recovery from the devastating effects of the nine-eleven terror attacks. Figures released yesterday show that 2002 overnight tourist arrivals at all ports of entry totalled a record one hundred and ninety-nine thousand, […]
Not all of the nation’s explosive growth in tourism is taking place at resort areas like San Pedro, Cayo or Placencia. Today I was on hand as the earth was turned on a big new project just a poker chip’s toss from the northern border. Janelle Chanona, Reporting This afternoon, ceremonies to mark the official […]
A new financial institution opened its doors today, and while the concept of the Belize Unit Trust Corporation and its associated money market fund is new to Belize, it is well established elsewhere in the Caribbean and beyond. What makes the unit trust attractive is that it allows small savers to receive rates of return […]
It didn’t figure into today’s budget debate, but Belizean motorists will receive some pre-election insulation from higher fuel prices. A release from the Ministry of Finance today announced that although this weekend’s shipment of petroleum products will arrive with prices averaging eight cents more per gallon, government will be adjusting its tax bite to allow […]
Since the mid 1980’s it was home to a state of the art radio transmission facility used by the Voice of America to beam the U.S. worldview to a turbulent Central America. But when the Belize government declined to allow its conversion into a propaganda platform aimed at Cuba, the lease was cancelled and the […]
