If you can win in Belize like people win in the USA and other “first world” countries, you have a victory like no other. It’s an exclusive club. Our young people who study in “first world” countries encounter a world that is materially far above what is here at home. Some who return home after completing their studies, harbor dreams of the material riches they got a taste of while living abroad. When live television was introduced to Belize in the early 1980’s, Said Musa, then a minister in the Price 1979-84 government, referring to the images of opulence (and decadence) Belizeans would be seeing on the screen, reportedly said its impact would be like the invasion of an army of ten thousand.
Simply put, that world we see out there is not for us. Belize is not an industrialized country. Our land area is small and our population is small. We do not produce vehicles, home appliances, electronics, and luxury goods; and except for a small quantity of crude oil, we don’t produce the inert raw materials over which countries go to war.
Human beings all over have the same needs, and generally the same desires. The tools and nice things that are produced abroad are as necessary or attractive to us as they are to people everywhere. In order to purchase these goods, we sell sun, sea, sand, caves, and antiquities; and we sell sugar, bananas, citrus, and marine products. We get a boost from remittances and from some services that we sell at a cheaper price than what must be paid for them in industrialized countries. But put all together, our earnings are not sufficient to pay for the quantity of goods from industrialized countries that would put our standard of living on par with theirs.
Cynicism (or naivety) in some quarters about the failure of our governments to deliver a standard of living that approaches what our neighbors in the US and Canada enjoy is off target. While corruption and unequal wealth distribution/opportunities weigh us down, and must be corrected, mainly it is the limits on our production, what we produce, and the size of our economy that stand between us and the life we see on American television.
Wholesome food and affordable housing — victories we are yet to win
While great material wealth is beyond our reach because of physical realities, there are material failures that our leaders must take full responsibility for. The 2020-2025 government has its achievements, but there are areas where much more must be done. Wholesome food should be on every table in our country. That must be a priority of every government. The magic of the marketplace has not and will never deliver wholesome food at an affordable price for all of us. We need to tweak our economic system. Government must intervene wherever there are deficiencies in the supply chain. It is not acceptable that imported processed food in tins and plastic/glass containers are staples in our diets.
The need for good, affordable houses is great. That one’s a task for giants that must also be addressed as a priority in our nation. The price of imported cement and steel is prohibitive, and because after we became self-governing we did not invest enough in replanting our forests, we now have to import lumber. Our architects have to design houses that are more affordable. We have to take a closer look at materials that are available locally. We might have to harvest more trees from our reserves. On the coast, in the peat, it will take some doing to design cheaper houses, but inland, on terra firma, in areas less exposed to hurricanes, we should be able to construct durable abodes that are more affordable.
Winning for us is different from what winning is in the industrial world or in oil/mineral-rich countries. Our riches are in our environment, our culture, and our tranquility which we neglected and have largely lost, and must recover. Becoming materially rich in Belize is elusive. All of us can’t get a BTL case, win the Lotto/Mega Bingo/Jackpot, own tracts of fertile land near to population centers, or gain rights over areas of the sea with the most productive lobster beds. Jobs for area representatives are few; there are only 31 of those, and jobs as ministers of government, only 12 or so sit around that table.
But some material things we can have. We must deliver wholesome food for every table, and ensure that our people have access to good, affordable houses.
If regular gas were sold at $10 per gallon
It is a constant in all party manifestos that if the party forms the government the price of fuel will be reduced at the pumps. If fuel was cheap, it would be a great boost to our standard of living. But our country doesn’t refine crude petroleum; we pay the price demanded by the countries we purchase fuel from. Government does, however, control the amount of tax that is put on fuel, and that makes up a considerable chunk of the price at the pumps.
The tax on fuel is essential revenue for the government. In February 2022, a News5 headline said: “Fuel Tax Nets $150 Million Annually; PM Says Not Time to Lower the Number One Revenue Earner Yet.” In the body of the story, the medium reported the Prime Minister as saying that “his government is committed to lowering the price of gasoline, but … it is the government’s largest source of tax revenue, and GoB still relies on it heavily.”
The Belize Energy Unit (BEU), from within the Ministry of Public Utilities, Energy, Logistics and E-governance, said in a report on energy usage that “regular gasoline has shown a notable upward trend, rising from 21.9 million gallons in 2019 to 26.4 million gallons in 2023. In contrast, the supply of premium gasoline has drastically declined, possibly indicating a shift in consumer preference toward more cost-effective fuel options or changes in fuel consumption patterns.”
Those who would benefit the most from a reduction in the price of regular gasoline are small entrepreneurs (fisher folk, small farmers, roadside vendors), taxi operators, and Belizeans who commute in private vehicles. With such a reduction, everyone who uses regular fuel would have more dollars in their pocket, and there’d also be a decrease in the price of the commodities/services produced by those who own businesses, consistent with the quantity of excise tax the government gave up. The cost of transporting imported goods and the cost of goods produced by our manufacturing sector and our large farmers would be impacted minimally, because the main fuel they use is diesel.
Looking at 2023 figures, in February 2023 regular fuel sold at $12.25 per gallon at the pump, and the government’s take in taxes was $4.55 per gallon. If government gave up $2.25 in tax off each gallon, so that the price at the pump was $10 per gallon, the tax take off 26.4 million gallons, approximately $120 million, would be halved, leaving the government short $60 million in the treasury.
If to make up that $60 million loss government split reductions in expenditure between salaries for employees and programs, it would have had to slash 1,500 employees from the payroll, and cut corners on school feeding programs, medical supplies at the public hospitals, and support of the people who are not equipped to earn a living. There are long-term pros and cons associated with cheaper gasoline, but that is outside of this discussion. What we know is that in the immediate term, many would benefit from $10-per-gallon regular gas. But for many of us there would be considerable pain.