Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño told the nation in his 2022/2023 budget presentation to the House of Representatives last week that his government had “exceeded all performance markers” and that the new Budget, with a proposed total of $1.361 billion, will be the “largest spending and investment Budget in the history of our country.”
PM Briceño could have been mistaken for his predecessor, the oftentimes grandiloquent Dean Barrow, as he gushed about our financial prospects in his introduction to GOB’s estimates of revenues and expenditure for the upcoming year. The PM described his government’s performance last year as “truly remarkable”; he told Belizeans that “a new day is dawning”, he said our “economy is bouncing back”, our dollar “is strong again…default and devaluation have been averted”, and that his government’s “progress report [is] unmatched in our 41 years as an independent nation.”
But the PM didn’t fall victim to his glowing introduction of his “Working Together for a Fair, Inclusive And Prosperous Belize” 2022/2023 budget. He warned that “the public debt emergency is not over”, that our debt burden is still heavy and it “directs funds away from people-centered priorities such as education, sports, health, housing, and citizen security”, and he made a direct appeal to “Ministries and Financial Officers to exercise maximum restraint” as they execute the projects and initiatives of this biggest budget ever.
Things are not that bright in Belize, and they are very likely to get worse. Much of our economic hardships are not the fault of the present government. While they have been about executing their Plan Belize, which has the stated goal that all of us will win, clearly the GOB has been functioning under heavily constrained conditions. Consequently, their report card on the financial side has to be afforded an asterisk, with their accomplishments being measured by the circumstances under which they have operated.
The government deserves no quarter on their promises to improve our governance systems, though. There is definite languishing on those promised reforms, and as soon as the budget season is over, they will have to be called to task for their lethargy.
The end of the pandemic is the best medicine anyone could have ordered for our country and our nearly one-and-a-half-year old government, and on that front luck seems to be breaking our way. Over the past weekend, Belize reported only 25 new cases of Covid-19, a steep drop from the over a thousand infections reported one frightening weekend in late January, and while no authority local or foreign has declared the pandemic over, everyone has been breathing a lot more freely. There are countries across the globe, notably in the Far East, and the US, where cases have been on the rise, a clear warning that we must not let down our guard, but the general feeling is that the disease has lost much of its virulence.
At home, a number of the mandated Covid-19 restrictions have been relaxed, and more are expected to be removed shortly. However, until the WHO declares that we are in the clear, we can expect, especially our more vulnerable population, citizens over 60-years-old, to be advised to wear our masks when we are among persons who don’t live in our households, to continue “physical distancing” as much as possible, and to wash our hands regularly, particularly after being in public places.
Unfortunately, hardly had the pandemic begun showing signs it was beginning to lose its grip on the world when a terrible war broke out in the Baltics. This war, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, started on February 24, a month ago, and not only has there been no let up, but the invading Russians have actually increased the devastating power of the weapons they have unleashed against their neighbor, to force their will upon them.
There are other terrible wars raging across the globe, wars where the bloodshed and famines and displacement of people are no less. The war in Yemen has been going on over seven years. The war in Palestine has been going on almost since the winners of WWII carved out a space for the displaced Jews. In Africa, hundreds of thousands have died and are dying in ongoing wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic. The economic wars our good neighbor, the USA, declared on our good neighbors Cuba and Venezuela have caused people in those two countries indescribable economic hardship.
These wars rage on, with their terrible toll on the people in those countries, but with not much of a ripple across the rest of the globe. It’s only when the European nations lock horns with each other that fear grips the world and our economies tremble.
Five hundred years after the Europeans “discovered” and conquered this part of the world, and began the pillaging of the African continent, they remain the economic and military superpowers in the world. When they engage in battle, as they did in the two “world wars”, all of us are drawn into the fight. The present invasion and destruction of Ukraine by the Russian military hasn’t escalated beyond the borders of Ukraine, but there is not a country across the globe that hasn’t been negatively impacted.
We were firmly in the grip of the pandemic when the present government took the reins in November 2020, and just when it looks like we are maybe out of it, here comes a terrible war. The impact of this war, piled on top of all the havoc the pandemic wrought, is being felt in the cost of imported commodities, their finished goods, and inputs like fuel, fertilizers and pesticides that are essential to agricultural production. The acquisition costs of those inputs have gone up considerably. Consequently, the cost of most locally produced goods will increase, are increasing, too.
Despite the largest budget ever, we are living in really tough times. The PM said, “a new day is dawning.” But storm clouds are blotting out the sun. It’s another challenge for the Belizean people, but giving the devil its due, the GOB isn’t showing any pessimism. It’s far from enough — the GOB allotting $6 million to help out the most marginalized, and a modest $5 million to continue delivering homes to single mothers and Belizeans who have never owned one, but in times of lean we have to be glad that there’s a little something in the basket.
The times are tough, but Brother David already showed us the path to follow. Brother David said it’s all about Belizean products. We will survive and prosper if we support each other. When we go into the store, we must look for the “Made in Belize” label. We must keep spare change handy to buy from street-side vendors. If we follow that path, and the GOB does its part, all of us will win.