BELTRAIDE is also looking for Belizean business people to take advantage of a European Union initiative that provides funding for product development. The Cariforum Agricultural Research and Training Fund (CARTF) offers grants ranging from five thousand to fifty thousand U.S. dollars to cover up to seventy-five percent of the costs of research and training for […]
To absolutely nobody’s surprise, the budget speech presented by Prime Minister Said Musa was big on pleasure and small on pain…and with a general election likely between now and the April first date of implementation, any other strategy would have bordered on the absurd. While the Opposition will no doubt characterize the numbers as bogus, […]
It has been a long, slow process, but an agreement has finally been signed to establish a commercial free zone at the Philip Goldson International Airport. Using an initial four and a half acres adjacent to the runway, Free Zone International Limited, headed by Arturo Lizarraga, plans to attract companies that will trade, process and […]
On yesterday’s newscast B.T.B. director Tracy Taegar summarized the latest tourism figures, pointing to a whopping five fold increase in 2002 cruise arrivals, a respectable two percent rise in airport tourist landings, with a heavy eighteen percent jump in the most recent fourth quarter of the year. Today a closer look at figures provided by […]
The report card on 2002 tourist arrivals is in…and guess what, the industry passed with flying colours. This afternoon, I caught up with Director of Tourism, Tracy Taegar who broke down the figures and provided an insider’s perspective on the developments. Tracy Taegar, Director of Tourism “The report has just come in for cruise ship […]
Had the most recent diplomatic effort to end the Guatemalan claim been more successful, the visit of a high level business delegation from that country would be front-page news. But the fact is that profitable trade can flourish, even where politics falls short. News 5’s Janelle Chanona reports on the latest efforts in dollar diplomacy. […]
New prices for butane gas have been announced effective today for consumers nationwide. The increased rates, which range from a low of sixty-six dollars per one hundred pound cylinder in Dangriga, to a high of seventy-two dollars in Benque Viejo, are the result of increased acquisition costs for the imported fuel. Those new global realities […]
Traditionally, this time of year is referred to as “Mawga Season”, with more than a few Belizeans downright broke after the holidays. In the interest of helping you organize your finances, this afternoon we stopped in to see Ms. Jane…as in Jane Usher the aptly dubbed Queen of Credit Unions, for her suggestions. Jane Usher, […]
The big news from the economic front this week is that the Standard and Poors Rating Service has given Belize a new report card…and it looks good. According to a government release, the S and P has completed its yearly review of several Latin American and Caribbean countries and decided that Belize is no longer […]
In the last few weeks most media coverage of the tourism industry has focussed on problems surrounding the cruise ship sector. But a canvassing of tour operators, hoteliers and service providers to the traditional and much larger overnight segment of the industry indicates that 2002/2003 is going to be a banner season. Reports are that […]
Traditionally, the many hams and turkeys that grace Belizean tables at Christmas have almost always been imported from abroad. But in recent years the increased enterprise and skill of local producers, the encouragement of government, and the patriotic preferences of local consumers, have combined to make Christmas dinner a home grown Belizean affair. Yesterday on […]
With the value of Belize’s farm grown shrimp exports climbing steadily, the realm of aquaculture is no longer a novelty. Today, a significant new investment was officially opened in the field of fish farming. The operation is located on the Coastal Road near the village of La Democracia. Janelle Chanona, Reporting Tilapia: the very name […]
On Tuesday’s newscast, Minister of Budget Management Ralph Fonseca spoke about the changing telecommunications industry and the need for Belize to take the long view. Tonight, in the continuation of that interview I asked the nation’s point man on finance how the strategy of “growth economics” was doing more than four years into his term […]
A signing took place in Belize City today for a technical cooperation project to boost the nation’s trade and investment. That effort involves a grant of almost a million Belize dollars from the Inter-American Development Bank. Signing on behalf of Government was Minister of Budget Management, Ralph Fonseca, while the bank’s representative in Belize, Hugo […]
Meanwhile, BELTRAIDE’s Executive Chairman, Jose Alpuche, says the project will target its resources at direct contact between buyers and sellers. Jose Alpuche, Executive Chairman, BELTRAIDE “Matching markets with actual production here in Belize, where we find little difficulties, attempt to solve them. So it’s in effect a direct link, business to business. That’s the most […]
Forget the Caymans; bank in Belize. That’s the message government is sending to the world of international finance. The occasion was the official opening of Belize’s newest offshore institution, the Investment and Commerce Bank Limited. Speaking at ceremonies on Friday night, Minister of Budget Management Ralph Fonseca applauded the development of the offshore banking sector, […]
The immediate threat of a fuel crisis is over, and fuel dealers will have the chance to meet with government and work out their differences over the next month or so. But if those station operators are going to receive the bigger slice of the pie they say they need, where will it come from? […]
Over the next few years it is expected to overtake citrus as Belize’s largest export. Earlier this week News 5’s Jacqueline Woods visited a shrimp farm near Ladyville where the latest harvest was being processed for shipment. What she discovered was that not only is production growing, but that the market is becoming more diversified. […]
Most of the news coming out of the sugar industry these days has not been encouraging, but today at least there were some signs that things are not getting any worse. The U.S. Embassy has announced that Belize’s allocation under the 2002-2003 tariff rate quota will remain unchanged. That means that over the next twelve […]
It is the biggest business exhibition of the year and has become a favourite of bargain hunters during the September celebrations. A short while ago News 5’s Janelle Chanona headed out to Princess Margaret Drive to see what’s new at Expo 2002. Janelle Chanona, Reporting This afternoon, official opening ceremonies were held on the grounds […]
Bond issues seem to be the latest way to raise capital on the Belizean market and the most recent institution to announce a bond issue is the Development Finance Corporation. The D.F.C. has announced its intention to raise twenty million Belize dollars by offering bonds bearing an interest rate of nine percent. In addition to […]
There is good news and bad news in the tourism industry tonight. First, the positive, and that is that cruise tourism in Belize is going through the roof. According to a government release, Belize is the fastest growing cruise destination in the Caribbean, with arrivals in the first half of 2002 running forty percent ahead […]
In recent years the growth areas in Belize’s economy have been products like citrus, bananas and shrimp farming… not to mention tourism. But there was a time not very long ago that the nation’s survival began and ended with one word: sugar. Today, despite some recent setbacks, sugar is still a huge business and vital […]
An alleged failure by government to live up to a commitment made last year has cane farmers seeing red tonight. Spokesmen for the irate farmers claim that in December when B.S.I. was ready to announce its projected price for sugar, that price was set at slightly over thirty-seven dollars per ton. At that depressed level […]
These are not good times for the sugar industry, but on Friday the government announced that it will try to help farmers stay afloat until the situation improves. With the price per ton of cane paid to farmers falling to thirty-seven dollars and thirty cents for the recently completed crop, the Prime Minister has promised […]
