Belize’s Debt Relief Strategy Praised at UN Conference

Belize’s innovative method of addressing overbearing external debts – the Blue Bond – was one of the key points at the recent U.N. Oceans Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. From its conceptualization and as it progressed through its stages to full adaptation, the novel blue bond mechanism was praised by other countries who find themselves in similar positions as Belize with external debt. Director of the Blue Bond and Project for Finance Permanence in the Office of the Prime Minister, Beverly Wade, was part of a high-level panel discussion that focused on this topic. She told News Five today that many countries now look to Belize as the pace setter for this kind of debt-restructuring breakthrough.

Beverly Wade

Beverly Wade, Director, Blue Bond & Project for Finance Permanence, O.P.M.

“That panel had representation from the CEO and Chairman of the Global Environmental Fund. It also had representatives from the Government of Seychelles, who were really the pioneers in blue bonds. They had the first blue bond. Successfully negotiated the blue bond are now being looked at as best practices and they’re being looked at as innovation that can be potentially scaled up across other countries, especially countries that are also dealing with debt and to look at how we can look at Belize’s experience and to lend some of that experience to our fellow SIDS, but also to highlight what the blue bonds have done for our country, Belize, which is that it has allowed us to restructure twenty-five percent of our national debt and it has led to a reduction in our debt to G.D.P. ratio by twelve percent. It has also now created a mechanism for us to now look at finance permanence for oceans conservation and by extension, the development of our blue economy.”