PM Briceño Says Cut the Superbond

John Briceño

While Prime Minister John Briceño and his government table bills to alleviate the financial constraints, he has the hefty superbond payments hovering above his head.  Early in the pandemic, then Prime Minister Dean Barrow decided that it would be better to ask bondholders for a deferral on the bond payment. Bondholders agreed to defer the payment of the interest. When he was Leader of the Opposition, John Briceño said that the Barrow Administration was simply kicking the pan down the road.  So what’s his solution now, as leader of the nation?  Briceño says that the superbond must be renegotiated, and the discussion must include a cut.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“And I’ve said I when I was in opposition that when we look at the structuring of the superbond or the renegotiation of the superbond we are looking for a haircut. We don’t want any deferring of payments or so forth because it just continues to cost the Belizean people more. So we are going to tell them we are going to get a cut that is the only way we are going to settle this once and for all.”