Now that Belize has no active case of the coronavirus, the National Oversight Committee has restored some of the freedoms which were taken away from citizens under the regulations. But, the damage caused by the global pandemic, continues to negatively the country's economy.
No one knows this better than the more than twenty thousand Belizeans who worked in the tourism industry. Many of them have been out of work for weeks now. But, the Belize Hotel Association is stepping in to give a helping hand to the most vulnerable of their distressed employees.
They have purchased 2,000 chickens, and this morning, they began a relief program, where those needy employees were called in to receive a weekly quota. The President of the Association told us that the hotel owners are trying to ease the pain of unemployment for their workers, now that the tourism industry is sidelined until further notice:
The Gold Book And the Way Back
Earlier in the week, we took you to the Biltmore for a breakdown of the Belize Tourism Board's New Health and Safety Procedures. The measures that hotels are putting in place to guarantee the health and safety of their guests and once the airports open up the entire country of Belize. And to outline those standards with crystal clarity the BTB has teamed up with Caribbean Culture and Lifestyle Magazine to communicate this all-important message to travellers. Creative Director at Mcnab Visual Tanya Mcnab told us how important the message of safety has become for every destination.
It was a story that upset the Minister enough for him to suggest that the students were being, quote: "led to comment on "diced and sliced" excerpts of his press conference."
And, yesterday afternoon he hit back presenting a solution for tertiary students in the south that would guarantee them the internet access necessary to complete their coursework. He took pains to clarify exactly what he meant when he called tertiary institutions the least of the Ministry's worries.
Zero From Multilateral Partners In COVID Response
Turning back now to today's Prime Ministerial press conference, which finished close to 1:00 pm, one of our colleagues asked the Prime Minister how much money had been received from the many multilateral partners who have committed to help with the COVID response.
As we've reported, government is running its unemployment and relief response on 75 million dollars in advance funds from the Central Bank. But when will the money from the multilateral support agencies come in? The PM says they are still running on zero:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister "Absolutely nothing. Remember I set out that, I enumerated various lines we were pursuing and had been promised, but in every single case we were given a timeline. The nearest, the closest disbursement date is from the IDB and that's for the 6.2 million US dollars that supposed to come for assistance to the health sector and we've been given the date of 28th May as the date on which the IDB board is expected to sign off finally and disbursements can begin. So, I have no doubt that these people are serious that the monies will come, but while the grass di grow, the horse di starve. Nevertheless, we wait and hope that at our continued and insistent urgings they can perhaps give us something of a fast track in terms of the disbursements of those monies."
PM Says No to Cash-Strapped Town Boards
The PM estimates that by August, most of the multilateral monies will be in.
For local governments though, there is no such relief on the horizon. they are strapped for cash and forced to send workers home. They've asked government to guarantee and overdraft for them as bridge financing and today the PM said "no can do":
Reporter "I do understand that they are asking government two things; 1) they are asking if government could offer a temporary bank guarantee on an overdraft that they want to obtain. They are ask to apply, but they need to get a guarantee."
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister "They have approach the banks and they have not approach the banks on that basis. They've approach the banks on the basis that government is to guarantee their overdraft. I am very sorry, but we can't. We are talking about overdraft facilities, it's not even a long-term loan that with some grace period that we could perhaps have a hope of seeing the municipalities begin to repay on themselves and so spearing government from having to find money that it does not have and cannot find. You're talking about overdraft facilities a continuing thing. That's as good as asking government to find the money and give it to them and we wish we could, but we cant. I'm sorry."
Reporter "For at least for the rest of the fiscal year if GOB would consider offering municipalities duty free fuel or reduction in fuel prices, would this be considered then?"
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister "No ma'am and let me tell you why, I've just gone through the figures and the way revenues are collapsing. One of the most certain of our revenue sources is the tax on fuel. Of course collections have also gone down tremendously even in that regard, because the volume of fuel that is being consumed has drop precipitously, but since we have to pay public officers, we have to operate the government, we have to provide for health, we have to provide for education, we have to provide for security, we cannot give up even the little that is remaining to us in terms of revenue collections. So, again I am very sorry."
Retrenchment Down The Road?
And those tight finances that the PM just described is when regular folks would say "things di buck!"
Indeed government's finances are in the gutter and they are facing a recurrent deficit of close to 300 million dollars.
A large part of the recurrent budget is the wage bill - which we were alarmed to hear is now listed at 688 million dollars - when two months ago the PM said it was 140 million dollars less!
We asked about that today - and the inevitable eventuality that - at some point down the road - the fat will have to be trimmed from the public service:
Jules Vasquez- Reporter "In your budget presentation you said the wage bill was $540 million. You said just now it is $688 million if I understand you right, with pensions. Obviously, we know and it is an increase twofold from when you took office in 2008. Obviously, at some point we know that the wage bill is a cat that will have to be billed. Somebody at some point has to say well the Government has to contemplate retrenchment or some adjustment of its non-contributory pension scheme."
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow- Prime Minister "I think that it is part of my charge. As long as I am sitting where I am, to try to protect the public officers for as long as possible. But I will say this, and it is also what I told them yesterday, I will hold on as long as I can but a day of reckoning is coming. All this business about or quibbling over when and if the economy will recover and the extent of such recovery. That is not idle but any sense of serious optimism about a strong early recovery is entirely misplaced. We don't want to kill hope but why would we fool ourselves into thinking that there will be some kind of springing back with respect to our economy. All that so as to say that ultimately and maybe that is the solution, ultimately as part of our efforts at recovery, who comes next, in my view will more likely than not have to talk to the IMF. Who comes next will have to talk to the IFI. Who comes next will need assistance, serious funding assistance. They won't give you the assistance that you require except they say, 'aha!' you will no longer be able to proceed as though you are heedless, you've been telling you for years and years. A conditionality or a condition for the assistance that you will need is in fact pension reform, is in fact the trimming of the wage bill, is in fact, retrenchment in the public sector. Now, if I were still in play I could sit here and tell you that I will find a way to dodge that. but when you don't have to face the music, you can pretend to be the most skillful dancer in the world, you know. Bottom line is, I grieve for my poor Belize and I certainly extend my sympathy from now to those who will have to deal with that particular problem because Jules, you are absolutely right. There is no way we will be able to postpone for any extended period beyond this crisis, coming to terms with the IMF and the other IFIs."
When Are The Elections Again?
And, finally from the Prime Minister tonight, the press today asked him about that thing that was all the news before COVID-19. We're talking about politics, both the internal kind to select a new leader, and the external kind between PUP and UDP. More specifically, when will the UDP choose a new leader and when will there be elections? The PM said this is not the time for that:
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister "I have not had any time to even give any consideration to that. This is a crisis of the moment and it is an all consuming crisis. Clearly at the back of my mind I must however, none overtly recognize that a point will come when we will have to in the United Democratic Party look at a convention date. In terms of the general elections, again, it is my expectation, not just my hope that we will be sufficiently far advance by the time the sort of last possible date for holding the general elections if you count back from the date of the last general elections. By the time that new date comes I expect that we will be in a position where the country will be able to hold the general elections. But again, we don't know. I repeat that the experts keep telling us prepare for the possibility of a second wave."
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Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister