Several bills to be introduced and 3 loan motions to be tabled

BELIZE CITY, Wed. May 10, 2017–The House of Representatives is due to meet at the National Assembly on Friday, when several bills will be tabled for consideration, including a bill for the long-awaited reform of the trade licensing regime.

Other bills to be tabled include an amendment to the Customs and Excise Act, the International Business Corporation Act, the General Sales Tax Act, and the Stamp Duty Act, which enshrines further tax measures for real estate.

A bill will also be introduced to establish the Economic Development Council, which should solidify the private sector-public sector partnership between the business community and the Government of Belize.

Amandala understands that 3 loan motions are to be presented: one being a guarantee for the Development Finance Corporation’s US$20 million line of credit from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); a US$10 million loan, also from the CDB, for the Belize Social Investment Fund for community-level projects, and another for the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), Taiwan, for multicultural centers at different locations in the country, as well as for the conservation of old-style homes in Belize City.

As is routine, members of Parliament can pose questions to ministers. Fort George member for the Opposition People’s United Party Said Musa has raised a matter with respect to Belize-Guatemala relations, in calling again for the public release of the report from foreign experts commissioned by the Organization of American States, in which Belize’s security forces were absolved of wrongdoing for the April 2016 shooting death of Guatemalan minor, Julio Rene Alvarado, in the Chiquibul on the Belize side of the border.