Information provided to Amandala on request, by Financial Secretary Joe Waight, indicates that Belize’s foreign debt burden continues to loom high, at nearly 80% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The total external debt reported to our newspaper as at August 2009 was $1.96 billion. Since then the Government has paid off nearly $5 million owed to CASCAL NV of the UK; however, the House of Representatives recently approved three loans from the Inter-American Development Bank totaling $45 million.
The 2009/2010 budget called for an estimated $170 million to meet debt payments.
At the end of December 2008, Central Government’s external debt was reported at $1.817 billion; in August it was reported at $1.863 billion.
More than half Belize’s external debt was refinanced under the Musa administration, with the super-bond through the Bank of New York.
Aside from the bondholders, Belize is next most indebted to the Republic of China on Taiwan, followed by the IDB and the Caribbean Development Bank. (See pie chart.)
With Belize experiencing a decline in its Gross Domestic Product—down 2.0% in the 1st quarter and 1.3% in the 2nd quarter—the debt to GDP ratio (a key indicator of a country’s debt burden) automatically grows, increasingly so with the assumption of any new debt.
Still, Belize’s debt burden has been declining since it peaked at over 100% of GDP in 2003/2004, and was projected to decline to 76% for 2009.