Principal Payments on Ten Loans Deferred

During today’s House of Representatives session, the Government of Belize introduced sixteen loan motions. Ten of these were amendments to existing loan agreements with Taiwan. These amendments will defer principal payments to Taiwan for another three years. Prime Minister John Briceño provided further details.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“I don’t want anybody to get excited because these are not new loans. Basically, what we are doing is try to better manage the cash flow of the government. Basically what we are doing is asking for a further deferment of starting to pay the principal, which will be for a next three years. And by doing that, we will be able to better manage our cashflow to the tune of thirty million dollars. Meaning, we can better be able to use to continue the implementation of Plan Belize.”

 

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“I don’t see how the Prime Minister, every opportunity he gets, boasts and brags about how well our economy is performing, how robust he is growing the GDP, yet he is having cash flow problems. When you have a facility at a bank, you have to pay your facility. No facility is being deferred for three years and why would we need to put ourselves in this position if the economy is performing the way he claims. This is proof that the Briceno administration’s economy is underpricing, it is anemic and they are saying they are broke, they have a cash flow problem. To manage the cashflow, why can’t you pay your facilities if you have the cash. This government has borrowed over three billion dollars, with a B.”