Belizeans who woke up on Tenth morning with a goma were forced to take another dose of Tylenol when they went to the gas station. As of Sunday, fuel prices at the retail pump increased by an average of over a shilling per gallon, the result of higher acquisition costs. World crude oil prices are […]
It is common knowledge that the tourism industry is on a ten-month hot streak, with visitor arrivals through the airport up almost twenty-five percent for the year. And it looks like things will be getting even better. News Five has learned that a new television show by the Fox Network will shoot on Ambergris Caye […]
It didn’t make any headlines, but on Friday two of Belize’s corporate giants signed a deal which may ensure the future of Belize’s biggest agricultural activity and at the same time reduce electricity bills across the nation. The memorandum of intent signed by Belize Electricity Limited and Belize Sugar Industries calls for BSI to construct […]
Improving the quality of services has become a priority of the government, particularly since tourist arrivals have dramatically increased during the last year. Espat credits the tourism boom to the variety of resources our country has to offer. Mark Espat, Minister of Tourism “In terms of overnight tourism, a lot of credit should go to […]
If all goes according to plan the next time you eat escabeche those onions will have been grown in Belize. The Ministry of Agriculture has announced local onion production will be expanding drastically this year, up from 8.5 acres to a prospective one hundred and forty. The up and coming industry is centered in the […]
Fresh on the heels of impressive statistics on tourist arrivals, Minister of Tourism Mark Espat today signed an agreement to access loan funds for improvements in tourism related infrastructure. The project documents signed by Espat and Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique Iglesias, provide for an eleven million U.S. dollar loan and seven hundred thousand dollar […]
Belize will be working more closely with the other nations of Central America to promote the region’s tourism. That’s the message that emerged from meetings held today between officials of various local tourism industry groups and representatives from regional tourism bodies. Members from the Belize Tourism Industry Association, Tour Guide Association, Tour Operators Association and […]
Somebody must be doing something right because for the ninth consecutive month a record number of tourists have arrived at Belize’s main port of entry, the Philip Goldson International Airport. Figures for June record 10,681 bona fide tourist arrivals for the month compared to 8,202 during the same period last year, an impressive increase of […]
On Sunday, thousands of Mexicans will head to the polls to participate in their national elections. While the outcome of the elections will have some effect on Belize, it seems those involved in the Commercial Free Zone should be even more than interested in who becomes Mexico’s next president. Apparently, presidential candidates have promised to […]
We didn’t make the money launderers’ list, but we have been billed as a tax haven. Reports from the Caribbean are that on Monday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) named 14 countries as tax havens and Belize was one of them. Apparently Belize is one of those places the really rich non-residents […]
In Corozal this morning, 4 private sector representatives were elected to the board of directors of the Commercial Free Zone. By any of Belize’s election statistics, eligible voters turned out in record numbers to elect Vince Waight, Guadelupe Longsworth, Winston Smiling and Hipolito Bautista to serve for 2 years on the zone’s board. Chief Executive […]
Since the Inter-American Development Bank established an office in Belize, it has funded a number of government projects. The IDB has also indirectly assisted the private sector through the Belize Institute of Management under the Trade and Investment Promotion Programme. Today, the IDB is looking to expand its lending services to private companies and met […]
It might be one of the few projects that managed to survive from one administration to the next. This week, the Belize Tourism Board is holding public consultations to discuss the idea of a tourism village at Fort Point in Belize City. This afternoon, Minister of Tourism, Mark Espat told News Five that the project […]
It’s getting to the point that good news from the Tourism Board is so common that it soon may not qualify as news. For the fifth straight month tourism arrivals through the Philip Goldson International Airport have increased by a significant amount. The latest figures for May indicate an increase of 22.7% over May of […]
The big news yesterday may have been the 25 cents per gallon increase in fuel prices for motorists, but News Five today learned that the biggest victim of the skyrocketing world oil market has been Belize Electricity Ltd. A call to the company this evening revealed that the cost of Mexican diesel, which is relied […]
Government told us it was coming and today it did. As of this morning the retail price of regular and premium gasoline, as well as diesel was raised by 25 cents per gallon. This reflects radically higher acquisition costs for imported fuel, a result of recent steep rises in the global price of crude oil. […]
If you are among those who enjoyed the rich flavour of full cream fresh milk from Cayo’s Macal Dairy, take heart; the financially troubled cooperative has been given a new lease on life. In ceremonies Wednesday at the processing plant in San Ignacio the company was officially put under the management of the Big H […]
While cane farmers may be getting a break in the form of more duty-free fuel, the rest of Belize will enjoy a few more weeks of grace before their gasoline bills go up. Government announced on Tuesday that it could no longer continue to reduce taxes on imported fuel in order to compensate for spiraling […]
It took five years to wind its way through congress but the United States has finally updated the Caribbean Basin Initiative. Under the new U.S-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act preferential tariffs will be extended to include some textile and apparel products, made with U.S. fabrics, that had been previously excluded. The details of the bill […]
It appears tonight that prisoners are not the only thing on the loose, as according to a release from Belmopan fuel prices are about to escape their bonds as well. Government states that its policy of absorbing ever-higher acquisition costs of gasoline by reducing taxes has kept prices at the pump stable and contributed to […]
The Belize Tourism Board is proud to announce that continuing on the trend set earlier in the year tourist arrivals are up. In a press release BTB reported that arrivals at the Philip Goldson international Airport for the month of April showed an increase of 37.4% over the same period in 1999. Last April, 8,420 […]
The schools and wells were very much appreciated but sometimes there’s no substitute for cash. That’s what Prime Minister Said Musa received this afternoon from the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan. In a short ceremony in Belmopan Taiwanese Ambassador Charles Tsai presented the P.M. with a cheque for a quarter million U.S. […]
A trade and investment mission from the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago is in Belize today to promote stronger business relationships between the countries. Represented in the mission are the Trinidad branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia, members of the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA) and the Tourism and Industrial Development […]
This weekend marked the continuation of one of the driest dry seasons in recent memory, with many parts of the country receiving less than half of their normal rainfall for the first four months of the year. But while most Belizeans look vainly to the heavens in search of precipitation, one farmer has decided that […]
It doesn’t get a whole lot of respect in Belize’s increasingly diversified economy but when it comes to agriculture, sugar is still number one. On Thursday News Five’s Janelle Chanona took a long slow ride on a sugar tug and found that while the industry has been taking its licks the future may be sweeter […]
