Portico Developer Says Fiscal Incentives Well Within Realm of Expectation  

The Portico Definitive Agreement, which was signed back in 2020 under the U.D.P. administration included a slew of fiscal incentives. Among them, the developer was exempted from paying several taxes, including business taxes, income taxes, and environmental taxes. As we know, when the Briceño administration took office, the prime minister announced that the agreement would not be pursued because it was not in the best interest of the nation. Gegg maintains that given the magnitude of the investment; the project is deserving of such exemptions. He further noted that Portico Enterprises Limited did not invent these exemptions adding that this is what is expected by investors pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into Belize.

 

David Gegg, Developer, Portico Enterprises Limited

“If this country is expected to have progress, if we expect foreign direct investments, major projects, infrastructural, agriculture, whatever it is, whoever are the developers and the company behind those projects expects to get the same kind of fiscal incentives, benefits, packages that we got. We did not invent this, companies in Belize have been getting this same kind of fiscal incentives for decades and I am sure the companies in Belize today and tomorrow will continue to get incentives and it is a must. If we don’t provide packages of fiscal incentives to investors who are prepared to put up two, three hundred million dollars they are going to take their money somewhere else. They don’t need to bring money to Belize. There are a lot of places where they can get returns, without the fight, hassle and aggravation they now have in Belize. Mr. Bennet is reminding me that the tax exemptions for Stake Bank are for twenty-five years, and it is very similar to those within our definitive agreement. Thirty years and about double the capital expenditure that Stake Bank was expecting at that time.”