Making Belize More Business Friendly

John Briceño

On Friday, a number of bills were introduced that seek to encourage a more “business friendly” climate in Belize.  One of these amends the Companies Act by removing fees for certifying documents and streamlining the process. PM Briceño says this bill will make it easier to start a business in Belize.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“It seeks to allow certain fees that are being imposed, to be imposed by order and published by the gazette. In truth, as a nation, we are ranked one hundred and sixty-six out of a hundred and ninety countries in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index for starting a business. I mean, we are really in bad shape at a hundred and sixty-six. But we need to fix it and that is exactly what we are attempting to do here today. For example, according to the World Bank the average cost of starting a business is estimated around thirty-four percent of per capita income. Now, the cost in Belize of forming a company to start your business would be as much as five hundred and eighty four dollars – it is bad enough that it is high but it isn’t just that you go and pay five hundred and eighty four dollars but you have to go and make four different payments to be able to register your company. Making it easier to do business in Belize means that we have to make it simpler, cheaper and more efficient. So, this bill proposes to reduce the cost of forming a company by almost fifty percent and instead of making four different fees we are proposing to have one fee of three hundred dollars to make it easier and cheaper especially for the micro, small and medium sized enterprises to start a business in Belize.”

The bill has cabinet’s approval and has been referred to the finance and economic development committee.