Minister Coye Speaks at U.N. Conference in Geneva

Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance Christopher Coye was invited to speak at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Thirteenth Debt Management Conference, in Geneva, Switzerland, on the topic of “Relief, Restructuring and Recovery: Dealing with Debt in Times of Global Crisis.” Minister Coye was among four hundred participants from over a hundred countries. He shared Belize’s recent success in negotiating debt relief in the current international debt architecture, noting that Belize’s successful three hundred and sixty-four million dollar Blue Bond transaction in 2021 was only a part of the overall emergency economic plan and debt relief strategy. He emphasized that as unpopular as some of the administration’s fiscal policy decisions were, the political discipline to stand by these decisions paid off handsomely in Belize’s negotiations for debt relief with its external commercial creditors. The International Monetary Fund endorsed such demonstrated commitment to prudent fiscal policy.