Shyne Barrow on 2024 Budget, “It’s more of the same.”

On Friday, Prime Minister John Briceño presented his administration’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year.  The financial plan for 2024/2025 has allocated one point four three billion dollars for government’s expenditures in the next cycle.  This morning, we asked Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow for a preliminary response to what has been presented in the House of Representatives.  Here’s how he responded.

 

Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“It’s more of the same.  You look at different parliaments and, by the way, welcome to the Commonwealth Parliament Association, a delegation from the UK, they are here, members of the Labor Party and the Conservative Party are here and I‘ll be meeting with them.  I believe they met with some of my other colleagues.  But  you look at different parliaments and governments across the globe who are grappling with inflation and they implement policies to deal with inflation.  I don‘t see anything in the budget or did not hear anything in the budget speech or see anything in the budget items that is directly speaking to inflation and the highest cost of living which is critical.  The quality of life for Belizeans, all governments must see to it that they work to improve it and we have not seen that from this government in any of the budgets.  The only thing that stuck out to me which I have been saying for the past few years, I‘ve been advocating for healthcare and I‘ve been saying that the infrastructure budget should not be larger than the health budget.  And so, I do concede that in this year‘s budget, finally the prime minister is listening to myself and other sober, objective minds and so the health budget is bigger than the infrastructure budget.  And so, I hope to see, I know we have the CT-Scan here, I hope to see that the essentials that the public health officials have been crying for,I hope to see in this budget that those monies will go to providing all of the basic things.”