The PUP's financial advisor Chris Coye says the treasury note offering with it's 6.5% interest rate amounts to very expensive debt - which he says is way too expensive in the current global financial climate - especially one where the IMF is offering low cost finance packages to certain nations:
Chris Coye, PUP "Economic Czar"
"For Belize to be putting out a note with that kind of interest rates immediately raises some questions. Jamaica for example, I think most of you would be aware just recently successful procured approximately 520 million US in financing from the IMF. The interest rate on that loan is 0.07%. That's a big difference in numbers, so it raises the question why is the IMF not providing this funding or why is Belize or the government unable at this point to secure that kind of funding from the IMF? That cheap international funding."
Hon. John Briceno, PUP Leader
"The government is speaking from 2 sides of their mouth. On one side they are saying we don't want to sign any kind of agreement with the IMF because we don't want to tie the hands of a future government, but yet they are telling you that they are borrowing 30 million US dollars to be paid in 5 years at 6.5% which in today's terms it's almost like a loan shark money. Refusing, rejecting the IMF and trying to raise 30 million dollars US in treasury notes."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Would you with the PUP support entering a standby or some other agreement with the IMF in light of the current economic situation in Belize?"
Hon. John Briceno, PUP Leader
"Certainly, I don't think it's something that we would take likely, we have to first of all sit down and take a look at what is ahead of us. We simply don't know. We have not seen the letter that IMF wrote to the prime minister, it said that there are some conditionality, but we don't know what are those conditionality."
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