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Senate Supports Bill For Road Rehab, UDP Says It's Just More Debt
posted (May 30, 2025)
But earlier in the meeting, the senate discussed the Subscription to Multilateral Investment Fund at the Inter-American Development Bank.

Opposition Senators Faber and Pitts were skeptical, while PUP Senator Chris Coye said that it would open opportunities for foreign investments.

Patrick Faber, UDP Senator
"So in effect, madam president, they are asking us to subscribe 13.4 million US dollars in order to gamble that we will be able to later on have investments made in our long term development, there is no guarantee. That's why I say gamble but before I go there madam speaker because you will understand that this is in effect borrowing, setting ourselves up to borrow right so all that I have said about borrowing I am not going to repeat it but I am going to make the case."

"So madam President we need to better use the resources we have and we need to cut the borrowing out, this is setting the stage in my opinion for further borrowing and we need to really put a clamp on the borrowing."

Sheena Pitts, UDP Senator
"For this one I have to say upfront that I don't support it, the reason why I don't support it is because, not now, not now, honourable senator Faber pointed out that this is a buying into setting ourselves up to borrow later and so we are making money available, we are asking the people of Belize to make money available to put into a fund that there is no guarantee even though putting into it we will have voting rights one way or another to put into a fund that we have no guarantee that will immediately access to use for the people of Belize."

Christopher Coye, PUP Senator
"This is actually to enable financing of private sector investors in Belize. So this is actually to enable better access to finance for Belizean investors in our economy so I think we needed to make that quick clarification on what this resolution or motion is about, a subscription motion for investment in or further investment in IDB invest by the country of Belize just like all the other countries that you see in that table in accordance with the ratio of our interest in that entity."

"And yes there is a timeline involved, the letter you are looking at is from April of 2024 but there is a commitment that by June of this year Belize would subscribe but the payments would not be made until a period of over 7 years roughly 390k per year."

The Senate meeting is still ongoing at this hour.

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