PM On Inflation: “It is not…being done by our government”

John Briceño

The cost of living continues to increase with the rise in prices of several basic items over the last year. According to the Statistical Institute of Belize, prices for basic goods rose by almost six percent during March of 2021 to March of 2022. Food items like pigtails and tomatoes recorded an above fifty percent increase. We asked the Prime Minister for his thoughts on both the rising cost of goods and his administration’s response.

Prime Minister John Briceño

“I believe that generally Belizeans understand that a lot of what we are facing is out of our control, it is not in our hands. Even in agriculture, when we grow our own vegetable for instance, the cost continues to go up, because the inputs we use, the fertilizer, the insecticides, the seeds, you know, the fuel, all of that is brought in from outside. The cost of that continues to go up. So, Belizeans understand that it is not something that is being done by our government. Also, Belizeans have seen that we are trying to do everything we possibly can to hold it down as best as we possibly can. For instance, we have the Supplies Control that is actively visiting shops. When they see a case of price gouging, they gave them tickets and probably take them to court. We have been asking consumers to send in their WhatsApp pictures when they see prices of price gouging. We have been trying to work on taxes, how we can play a little bit on taxes. The biggest example is fuel where we are setting up fund at the Central Bank where we can try to hold down the price of diesel for instance. It is still too high, at a little over thirteen dollars. But, as it is right now, we have removed more than a dollar in taxes.”