Taxes, crime, interest rates, road infrastructure, statistics and policy were among the main issues that government officials highlighted at a half-day business forum, Turning the Corner, held at the Old Belize Pavilion in Belize City—but the business sector had a few more issues to add to the list: telephone rates which constrain business with overseas customers, inefficiency in government’s facilitation of the agricultural export sector, the need for a more robust financial sector, strategies for wealth creation, and overdue legislative changes in the struggling citrus and sugar industries.
Keynote speaker at the event was Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who started out his statement signaling that he was pleased to gather with the over 100 private sector professionals “to discuss how government and the private sector can collaborate in taking the necessary steps to sustain economic growth in the immediate, intermediate and long-term.”
Barrow said that the forum was overdue, and among the announcements he made was Government’s intention to turn the Development Finance Corporation into a full-scale commercial bank. (See story elsewhere in this issue of Amandala.)
He also announced that Government has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to conduct a diagnostic in Belize’s taxation system. (That topic is also covered separately in this issue of the newspaper.)
Among the hottest topics addressed from the floor is the continuing stalemate in the citrus industry, which growers underscore is hampering both the development of the industry and the nation.
A grower, whose name was not specified, appealed to those present at the forum to not lose sight of the stalemate, because it does negatively impact on Belize’s economic development.
William Bowman, another citrus grower, said that they have the ability to increase production by up to 100% and they can earn much more foreign exchange, but the old citrus act, which, he said, violates the constitutional rights of growers who want to be governed by a new association, and not the one solely recognized in the law, needs to be fixed.
People will invest much more if they are given the assurance that they won’t be interfered with, said Bowman.
The Prime Minister noted that he had appointed financial advisor Alan Slusher to help broker an agreement for a way forward, but Barrow said that there is such “an intractable divide” that is blocking progress.
He did say, though, that Government will have to make “the hard choices” – speaking of legislative changes that may prove to be unpopular.
Citrus grower Eugene Zabaneh noted that 60% of the national budget goes to Belize City, a trading center which does not produce and which has only 25% of the population.
“The out district needs urgent attention,” he added, explaining that the three basic industries which are the nation’s breadbasket – citrus, banana and cane – need special attention.
“They are all aching; they are all in pain. We need urgent attention,” Zabaneh commented.
Abraham Dueck also raised concerns over what had traditionally been a major pillar of the Belizean economy – agriculture, citing an apparent “feet dragging” among Ministry of Agriculture staff in facilitating beef production and exports.
Prime Minister Barrow was visibly upset at the report, and firmly stressed to the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry, Gabino Canto, that the matters need to be treated with more urgency.
A forum participant addressed the issue of phone rates, particularly to clients overseas – a phenomenon that he said hurts especially those in tourism who cannot effectively communicate with clients abroad because of high costs. He lobbied for the fuller implementation for Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) in Belize.
Barrow expressed an inclination to get VOIP going in Belize eventually, but said that whenever he makes such an announcement, an announcement for general elections is to be expected the day after.
At the forum, Prime Minister Barrow committed to legislative changes for citrus and sugar.
Government officials have also expressed their intent to revisit the issuance of development concessions, with a view to spurring further economic growth.
Kay Menzies, president of the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, one of the attendees, gave us her thoughts on the forum, describing it as “a good start.”
She said that she got the impression that PM Barrow is “very concerned, very interested in having …something happen to try and kickstart the private sector and allow Government to provide an enabling environment. A lot of work needs to happen to make things happen.”
She said that the Chamber is on the steering committee, set up at the end of the forum, which has to meet and determine the makeup of the rest of the working committees to implement the recommendations.
As to the areas of prime importance, Menzies identified crime, which she said “reaches everybody;” development concessions, which relates to only some businesses; and tax reform, which was also one of the salient issues that Government has identified.
A follow-up is planned early next year—perhaps in time for the reading of the next national budget.