Prime Minister, John Briceño
by William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)
The Government of Belize has outlined total proposed spending of $1.782 billion ($1,782 million) this fiscal year in the 2025-26 Budget for General Expenditure, which Prime Minister John Briceño presented in a special sitting of the House of Representatives in Belmopan on Monday morning, May 12.
The Belize dollar is stronger than ever, supported by $2.2 billion of foreign exchange deposits in the Central Bank and in commercial banks in Belize, the Prime Minister noted happily, as he cited the 61 percent ratio of public debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that Belize has achieved in 2025, fully seven years ahead of the IMF’s projected timeline for Belize’s economic recovery. He compared this success to the IMF’s gloomy assessment of Belize’s finances in 2020, which had indicated that public debt would increase as the availability of external financing diminished, which would have threatened Belize’s foreign currency exchange peg of 2- to-1 to the United States dollar.
Averting the threat of devaluation and mounting debt was only part of the government’s success, Briceño affirmed. Among the additional achievements of his administration that he listed were the lifting of thousands of Belizeans out of poverty through the increase in the minimum wage to $5.00/hour; and the government’s reduction of the percent of Belizean people living in poverty to 22.5 percent, down from almost 40 percent at the start of the PUP government’s first term in 2020. He acknowledged the complex global economic environment, which challenged Belize’s economic development.
The entire global landscape has been changed by the United States’ 10 percent to 50 percent increase in new tariffs on trade with 185 nations, including Belize, which were unveiled on April 2, dubbed “Liberation Day”, and the retaliatory tariffs imposed by China. So, even though the tariff increase has been temporarily suspended, the decreased U.S. grant funding for international development projects, including Belize, and the uncertainty of the global economy have slowed most of the world economies, with Belize’s economy buffeted by these external forces.
Belize’s economy showed resilience with an 8.2 percent real growth in GDP in 2024, through a 10.5 percent growth in the services sector, which expanded through a 10.7 percent increase in overnight tourist arrivals over 2019 pre-pandemic numbers, as a result of effective marketing strategies and an increase in airlift capacity. Overnight visitor arrivals jumped by 19.6 percent from 2023 numbers, and cruise ship passenger arrivals remained the same as the previous year, which had a trickle-down effect of positive growth for hotels, restaurants and food services, transportation and distributed trade.
The secondary sector also grew by 5.7 percent, driven by an increase in electricity generation and construction activities, offsetting a decline in the manufacturing of flour, animal feed and rum production, which outweighed an increase in sugar and citrus production.
The primary sector contracted by 2.5 percent, as the exports from marine fisheries diminished, along with grains, cattle and petroleum exports, even though banana and sugar cane production grew. Unemployment fell to 2.1 percent in 2024, compared to 3.3 percent in 2023.
The government collected $1.643 billion in revenue last year, of which 92 percent was recurrent revenue, and $1.664 billion was spent last year. Of this, $503 million was spent on the salaries of teachers and public officers, and $132 million was spent on pensions and ex-gratia payments, meaning 52 cents of every dollar in government recurrent spending went to salaries and pensions, or 43 cents of every tax dollar. Government retained a surplus of 1.48 percent of GDP and a negative deficit of -0.26 percent.
For the upcoming fiscal year 2025-26, which began on April 1, Government projects it will collect $1.74 billion in revenue and grants, a 6 percent increase or $94 million more than last year, mostly through bilateral and multilateral grants and collection efficiencies. Government plans to spend $1.782 billion, of which $1.253 billion will be recurrent spending and $528.8 million will be for capital investments. An important detail is that $80 million, previously classified as subsidies and transfers, will now be classified as personal emoluments. There will be $698 million spent on salaries and pensions, which will be 56 percent of total recurrent spending, which represents a net 10 percent increase over last year, or $63 million more than last year.
Capital investments will be the highest ever – $528 million, or 30 percent of expenditure, and debt servicing will be 8 percent of government’s spending. He projects that the budget deficit will be about 0.59 percent, or 46 million, which when added to debt amortization payments, means the government will need to borrow $167 million in financing or just over 2 percent of GDP for this year.
The Prime Minister detailed some of the government’s Capital II investments which would total $336 million this year, which will be funded through general revenue, not donor financing. This will provide the corresponding financing for projects financed by external partners. These include $2.2 million for improving the road from Sarteneja to Corozal Town, $14.7 million to upgrade the George Price Highway between Belize City to Belmopan, and another $9.4 million for the improvement to the same highway between San Ignacio and Benque Viejo, and $3.5 million to improve the Philip Goldson Highway between Mile 8 and Mile 24, and $4 million for specialized equipment. This will total $30 million to be spent on the maintenance of existing roads, streets and drainage throughout the country.
Government will also spend $50 million to expand the National Health Insurance (NHI) program throughout the country, and $2.6 million in education for the Healthy Start feeding program, and $2.2 million to provide Internet access for schools. Social development will include $6.3 million for constituency development programs, and $7.1 million for community support and small grants programs. Small farmers will also be assisted by $1.5 million allocated to support them, and $4.1 million will be spent on youth anti-violence programmes. Another $22.0 million has been allocated for land acquisitions and surveys.
Government will spend another $184 million in Capital III projects mostly financed by grants or loans at concessionary interest rates. These include $9 million to build a solar power plant, funded by the Saudi International Development Fund, and $15 million for a renewable and resilient energy project funded by the World Bank. A $9.5 million grant from the Republic of Taiwan will be invested to build a state-of-the-art hospital in San Pedro Town, and $6 million from the Saudi Fund will be invested to build a tertiary care hospital for Belmopan. A $7.7 million grant from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will fund a skills development program, and $5.5 million for the Healthy Start program, with another $6.6 million from the IDB to be invested in a sustainable urban development program for municipalities in northern Belize. The “Belize Blue and Beyond” project will be funded by $10.4 million from the World Bank’s International Development Assistance (IDA) program to assist coastal communities and San Pedro. The full Budget debate will continue on Monday through Wednesday, May 26-28.
The Prime Minister introduced a Bill for an amendment to the Customs and Excise Duties Act, which will reduce tariffs and duties on 29 products imported from Taiwan, with effect from January 1, 2025. This will also reduce traiffs on imports from the United Kingdom and the European Union, in compliance with Belize’s treaty obligations under the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with African, Pacific and Caribbean (APC) countries, and environmental cooperation agreements (ECAs). He noted that, while the government is foregoing revenues from these taxes, the benefits in market access for Belizean products from participating in these external agreements outweigh the loss in revenue.
The Prime Minister also introduced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill 2025, for insolvent persons to enter into an arrangement with their creditors for the administration of their debt, as well as the receivership and liquidation of companies both local and foreign, limited partnerships, the making of bankruptcy orders against individuals, licensing and regulation of insolvency practitioners, the penalization and redress of wrong-doing associated with insolvent persons, cross border insolvency issues, and simplified insolvency procedures for eligible companies and to provide for matters related.
The new Act supports entrepreneurship and growth, as it creates mechanisms to maximize the value of assets and access to credit. It creates a fair legal framework to manage financial distress for small and medium sized companies, which have run into financial difficulties as a result of changes in the Belize economy. The new law will support financial stability, as it helps the small companies to restructure their debt, to keep them sustainable and help them avoid ruin. The law also regulates bank practice with safeguards for fairness and transparency, with penalties for malpractice and wrongdoing. It revises and reforms the previous Act that predates independence and brings Belize’s law in line with modern international norms.
A Bill for a law to simplify the language with gender neutral terms and to consolidate the rules and regulations governing the Magistrates’ Courts for greater efficiency was introduced by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Culture and Immigration, Hon Francis Fonseca. The said Bill aims to improve the delivery of justice, as it will consolidate and update the District Courts Procedure Act, the Summary Procedures Act, the Summary Jurisdiction Offences Act, and the Inferior Courts Act, Chapter 94 of the laws of Belize, to regulate procedures for matters before the Magistrates’ Court, resolving incongruities in the existing laws which date back over 70 years.
Belize’s building codes and safety standards will be upgraded to international standards by the Bill to amend the Belize Buildings Act to regulate the construction, demolition and movement of buildings, and related matters, which Cayo North representative, Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing, Hon. Julius Espat introduced.
Belizean children, women and older persons will be better protected by the bill for a new Families Act 2025 to repeal, replace and consolidate the Families and Children’s Act Chapter 173 and the Married Persons Protection Act, as introduced by the Minister for Human Development, Family Support and Gender Affairs, Hon. Thea Garcia Ramirez, to reform the function and jurisdiction of the Family Court.
Minister of Human Development, Hon. Thea Garcia Ramirez
Minister for Constitutional Reform, Hon. Louis Zabaneh introduced the People’s Constitution Commission Act to extend the timeline for the Prime Minister to present the report from the People’s Constitution Commission, which the Commission is expected to present to the Prime Minister by May 26. He will then decide within 60 days if the report should be put to the people in a public referendum this year, when voters would indicate whether the Constitution should be reformed and amended.
At the close of the meeting, Opposition Leader, Hon. Tracy Panton and Mesopotamia representative, Hon. Lee Mark Chang rose to question the tender and bidding process for the infrastructure projects mentioned in the Budget, which prompted responses from Minister Julius Espat and the Prime Minister.
Opposition Leader, Hon Tracy Taegar Panton, member for Albert
Belize Rural North representative, Minister of State, Hon Marconi Leal, Jr. deputized for the Speaker of the House, Hon. Valerie Woods, and he explained that he wore a pink shirt to express solidarity with the Speaker of the House, Hon. Valerie Woods and his father, former Minister Marconi Leal, Sr., who are both undergoing medical treatment, and with all Belizeans who are battling cancer.