Briceno also criticized the Prime Minister for increasing import duties on fuel. He said that higher gas prices slow down the economy. But, Government needs to raise 50 million in import duty from fuel to bolster tax collection. But what happens when the world prices for oil - which are near a historic low - rebound? Will government then bring back down the import duties? As consumers, we all know too well that prices and taxes only ever seem to go in one direction, and that's up. The PM told us today it is a balancing act:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"If and when that does start to happen, in deed we will have to manipulate the import duty application some more. By then of course it would not be import duty, it will be excise. Part of what we are doing in terms of the removal of the RRD and we move to an excise regime on imported fuel and fuel products as well. But by the time we have to do that, if in fact we have to do it, I think we will be well on our way to making the target we've set for ourselves."
We'll have more from Belmopan later on in the news - including the story of how the Prime Minister became "Right Honourable."
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