It’s called TIPS, an acronym for the government’s Trade and Investment Promotion Service. Based in Belmopan, the organization is charged with the attraction of new businesses to Belize and the expansion of existing ones. Today TIPS executive chairman Louis Zabaneh invited the press to see how they’re doing. Louis Zabaneh, Executive Chairman, TIPS “The idea […]
Over five hundred shareholders crowded the Biltmore Plaza Thursday night to find out just how well their company, B.T.L., performed over the last financial year… and they weren’t disappointed. Gross revenues increased to a record eighty million dollars, pretax profits rose to a peak of forty-two million, after tax profits reached an all time high […]
Today it was a packed house at the Belize Institute of Management as members of the private sector sat down to discuss how the Ministry of Commerce and Industry can help them in areas such as imports, exports, manufacturers, producers and services. The exercise allowed the businessmen and women to voice their concerns and cite […]
Last October when Hurricane Mitch forced the migration to Belmopan, B.T.L. decided that it might make sense to relocate some of their operations there permanently. This week, the company inaugurated a beefed up Belmopan branch which will now not only provide customer service but house the international operators. The new Global Telephone Operators Position System […]
Since the beginning of its privatization in 1988 the corporate performance of Belize Telecommunications Limited has been nothing short of spectacular. This year has been no exception with B.T.L. posting record revenues, record profits and for shareholders¼record dividends. While the figures will not be official until presented at next Thursday’s Annual General Meeting, Chairman Lisa […]
Although the meetings with President Ernesto Zedillo and the Mayor of Mexico City Cuauhetemoc Cardenas were highlights of the trip and helped to forge strong ties of friendship with our neighbor to the north, as in the Cuba trip, the official delegation had its private sector counterpart. Prime Minister Musa says it is critical that […]
Among those in the Belizean delegation to Mexico was Yolanda Crombie, representing the Belize Chamber of Commerce. The Belizeans met with Secretary of Trade Herminio Blanco Mendoza and members of the Mexican business community. Crombie says Belize has made some valuable business contacts and she looks forward to employing them in the future. Yolanda Crombie, […]
To better serve their tourist and business travelers, Tropic Air has innagurated a new office at the Punta Gorda airstrip. The facility was built in Spanish Lookout and transported by road to Punta Gorda to replace the former building, which needed extensive repairs. President of Tropic, John Grief told news five the company believes there […]
It was born as the Ramada Royal Reef and died as the Fiesta Inn. Today it was reborn as the Princess Belize. The new owner of Belize’s biggest hotel is Princess International Limited, a European company based in Turkey. Less than a decade old, the hotel originally managed as a Ramada, was in serious financial […]
A project that has been successful in a village in the Corozal District is coming to the city. Over the next two months women from Concepcion are teaching their sisters in the Port Loyola division of Belize City to make money in their own homes. News Five was at the Sister Clara Mohammed School for […]
The concept of greater autonomy for Belize’s villages, towns and city is one endorsed by both political parties and numerous civic organizations. And one municipality that exercises its autonomy more seriously than most is the town of San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. For several months a controversy has been raising the island’s political temperature as a […]
Belize Electricity Limited Chairman Robert Usher gave B.E.L. shareholders the details of the upcoming sale of B.E.L. shares by the Government of Belize at the sixth annual general meeting Thursday night at the Radisson. The government, which currently holds fifty one percent of the company’s ordinary shares and all the preference shares, will offer a […]
Today, B.T.L. launched its newest feature: Caller ID. The service allows you to find out who is calling you before you pick up the phone so you can screen your calls. It also records all incoming calls so even if you are out, you will know who called and when, so you can call them […]
You waited so patiently and now it’s time, lobster season is open. But while those who can afford it enjoy this delicacy without thinking much about it, catching lobster is big business. And this week the fishermen’s cooperatives are bustling with activity as the catch comes rolling in. News Five visited both the Northern and […]
Although Belize is already buying electricity from Mexico, BEL is now looking for ways to obtain power from our other Central American neighbors, and to even sell them electricity. Today a representative from SIEPAC, the Electrical Interconnection System of the countries of Central America, spoke to BEL engineers and top management about the benefits of […]
Long suffering customers in the Corozal Free Zone today received some welcome relief as BTL officially inaugurated a project to upgrade telecommunications in the commercial enclave at the Santa Elena Border. Previously the zone’s 31 customers relied on a fixed cellular arrangement, which was both cumbersome and expensive. The new system, relying on underground fibre […]
Once upon a time Bermudian Landing, Crooked Tree, Placencia, Caye Caulker and even San Pedro were sleepy little villages. Now they attract both local and foreign visitors who want to enjoy their charms. Well a move is underway to help another village smack in the middle of the tourist circuit to put out their welcome […]
One of those natural resources is water, more specifically the power of falling water to generate electricity. News Five’s Stewart Krohn asked Fonseca if the Chalillo Dam Project, which has been criticized as environmentally dangerous and economically unfeasible, was still a “done deal”. Ralph Fonseca, Minister of Economic Development “Well it certainly is, as long […]
Minister of Economic Development Ralph Fonseca is assisting with negotiations to resolve the so-called “US/EU Banana Wars”. Last Thursday, Fonseca joined Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur and CARICOM Chairman Keith Mitchell of Grenada in Washington DC for meetings with Secretary of State Madeline Albright and US Envoy to Latin America and the Caribbean Governor Buddy […]
Used Car dealers who sell by the BelChina Bridge say they will be requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister, who is also Minister of Finance, over what they consider to be unfair valuation of the vehicles they bring into Belize. They are hot under the collar because this week the Customs Department began enforcing […]
Lack of Financing, the Value Added Tax and high utility rates are among the obstacles of doing business in Belize. This is according to a 1997 survey conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank. Today the results of the survey and economic data from the region were discussed at a workshop entitled, “Private Sector Development and […]
While most people were trying to get to the Agriculture Show Grounds in Belmopan this past weekend the quickest way possible, the twenty competitors in the Toyota Tour ’99 took the long route. The tour, which started at six o’clock on Sunday morning, took the Toyota drivers from Belize City through Burrell Boom, Hillbank, Gallon […]
In an effort to bolster Belize’s foreign exchange reserves and make capital available for housing projects, the Government of Belize secured over a thousand mortgages today with the Royal Merchant Bank and Finance Company Limited. The deal with the T & T bank is described by Minister of Economic Development Ralph Fonseca as “a win-win […]
A workshop on efforts to create the single market for CARICOM countries was held today for members of the private sector. The consultation was hosted by the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was conducted by the Technical Action Services Unit of the CARICOM Secretariat. Since 1995 the T.A.S.U. has been assisting member states […]
It was the headline story in this week’s Reporter newspaper: “Hackers Rip off Belizeans”. The article alleges that computer hackers have broken into B.T.L.’s mainframe computer and are “raiding domestic business accounts”. According to the Reporter the sale of B.T.L. Internet passwords is rampant and if you know the right person — a computer whiz […]
