23.9 C
Belize City
Thursday, March 28, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

Photo: Students and staff of Stella Maris...

BPD awards 3 officers with Women Police of the Year

Photo: (l-r) Myrna Pena, Carmella Cacho, and...

Suicide on the rise!

Photo: Iveth Quintanilla, Mental Health Coordinator by Charles...

“We are terribly short of money” — PM Barrow

Headline“We are terribly short of money” — PM Barrow

BELIZE CITY, Fri. Apr. 17, 2020– The COVID-19 pandemic has crushed the global economy. Most countries remain under lockdown as they engage in the fight to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, a deadly disease which has infected more than 2 million persons worldwide and has claimed the lives of more than 150,000.

This afternoon, Prime Minister Dean Barrow issued a video statement in which he addressed several issues relating to government’s fight against COVID-19.

Barrow addressed the response to the pandemic from both the medical and the socioeconomic fronts.

Regarding the medical response to the illness, PM Barrow said, “The nationwide lockdown is one sure way of helping to contain the spread of the virus. Accordingly, that lockdown will be made to run at least its 14-day course.”

The medical frontline has been led by Dr. Marvin Manzanero, Director of Health Services, and Prime Minister Barrow said that that frontline has been beefed up by additional experts who have joined the team and have undertaken a wide array of assignments.

Barrow said the country has “…a better than sufficient supply of test kits, accompanied as well by the procurement of more PPEs. We are therefore well-armed to pursue and try to control the Belize City and San Ignacio outbreaks, the COVID-19 clusters.”

Barrow urged Belizeans to follow the social distancing rules and to “…please refrain from spreading rumors.”

Turning his attention to the socioeconomic aspect of the response to the disease, Barrow said that this aspect of the crisis is turning out to be “…our long nightfall.” “Our principal efforts here are twofold: to disburse all needed unemployment relief funds and to roll out an emergency countrywide food assistance program,” he said.

The Prime Minister added, “The tax base has utterly eroded and we are terribly short of money. We are without coin of the realm and it is not possible to collect anything but a trickle. Still, Government must operate and the country must be kept going.”

PM Barrow, who is also Minister of Finance, went on to explain that the government still has to find salaries for its frontline workers, nurses and doctors and the security forces, including immigration officers, customs personnel and all the other public officers who keep the ship of state afloat.

“It is an unprecedented challenge; it seems an impossible task,” Barrow admitted.

The government has borrowed from the Central Bank and is sourcing additional funds from international partners, the Prime Minister explained. He went on to state, “We will provide for our Belizeans in need. As of today, then, 23,264 persons have already been approved for unemployment relief, and their payments sent to their banks. Ultimately, this particular safety net will cover upwards of 50 thousand persons.”

“Likewise, 4,000 households, for a total of 17,000 beneficiaries, have received food baskets. This first tranche of that particular program is costing Government 12 million dollars,” Barrow disclosed.

The PM went on to say, “We wish that the money and the food could be more. We wish that the distribution process could be faster. But the shock to our lives, our economy, our systems, is like nothing any of us has ever witnessed. Everything has been shattered; our capacity is under the most unimaginable strain.”

Barrow explained that the $75 million that was borrowed from the Central Bank will be able to provide assistance to the unemployed for the next several months, and he said, “…the pace of disbursements will continue to accelerate as we straighten out the processing kinks.”

“The moneys from the international financial institutions are taking some to time to reach, but they are coming,” said Barrow. He said that he expects $30 million more in food assistance. “And there should be 100 million dollars to augment our already existing BOOST program… which is a form of cash transfer to the needy, and is separate and apart from the unemployment relief,” Barrow said.

“I close by making one other promise to you. All that we do is without regard to color, red or blue. No politician of any stripe will get hands on any GOB money, whether for unemployment relief or for food distribution. This is the way we have begun and this is the way we will continue. To those on both sides of the aisle that would have it otherwise, there is only one response. The nation comes first, and country over party every time,” he said.

Feature photo: Prime Minister Dean Barrow

Check out our other content

World Down Syndrome Day

Suicide on the rise!

Check out other tags:

International