PM Briceño on Importing 10,000 Cases of Corona Beers 

Prime Minister John Briceño told News Five in an exclusive interview today that “not a single bottle has been imported yet.” This was his response when we asked him about the 10,000 cases of Corona beers expected to be imported into the country soon. As we have reported, approval was given for the importation of the beers, and the Ministry of Agricultural and Food Security has stipulated that the bottles must be labelled ‘Belize Market’ and that the import must occur in stages, with the company required to pay high import duties due to the lack of reduced tariffs for Mexican beer.

Briceño said, “They just issued, or are about to issue, to import it.” According to Briceño, there has been a shortage of Belikin beer, which is produced by Bowen and Bowedn Limited. “There’s been a shortage of Coca-Cola in the market. I mean, I got a message from one of my constituents yesterday saying, ‘Here we’re the 21st, and we are short of soft drinks and beer, and this is a time when we can sell.'”

Briceño says that he is in communication with B&B CEO Michael Bowen, whom he described as an “excellent businessman and Belizean.” According to the Prime Minister, Bowen informed him that “they have increased the production and sales have increased. But it seems because of the growth of the economy, we’ve been growing very, very fast. It’s been difficult to catch up.”

He added, “So there are some shortages. Is that a policy that we want to go down to? I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s a policy that we want to support local industry, but if from time to time there’s a shortage, we may need to consider in the short term to allow that to come. We are still looking at the issue of the Corona beer, and probably quite likely at the next cabinet it will become, it will come up for discussion.”