U.S. Department of State: Belize Lacks Progress in Fiscal Transparency

The U.S. Department of State’s 2024 Fiscal Transparency Report has identified Belize and Suriname as failing to make significant progress toward fiscal transparency. According to the report, these are the only Caribbean countries that have not met the minimum fiscal transparency standards set by the Department of State.

The report assesses compliance with fiscal transparency standards based on evaluations from the 2014 Fiscal Transparency Report. Key criteria include the public disclosure of national budget documents and adherence to clear guidelines for contracting and licensing in natural resource extraction.

While nations such as The Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago were praised for meeting transparency requirements, Belize and Suriname were noted for their shortcomings.

During the review period, Belize made its enacted budget, end-of-year report, and information on debt obligations publicly available, including online. The report states that the budget information was reliable, and the documents provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenues, including those from natural resources. “However, it did not publish an executive budget proposal within a reasonable period. Publicly available budget documents provided a substantially complete picture of the government’s planned expenditures and revenue, including natural resource revenues.”

The report added that the government reviewed its budget throughout the fiscal year, with actual revenues and expenditures aligning reasonably with the enacted budget. “The military and intelligence budgets were subject to civilian public oversight. While the supreme audit institution met international standards of independence and had access to the entire executed budget, it did not publish audit reports within a reasonable period.”

The report advises that Belize make its executive budget proposal policy available within a reasonable period and ensure that the supreme audit institution audits the government’s executed budget and makes audit reports publicly available within a reasonable period.