Belize Opposition Leader, Moses “Shyne” Barrow has dismissed the BDZ$1.2 billion (One Belize dollar=US$0.49 cents) national budget presented by Prime Minister John Briceño earlier this month as one of “wastage and mis-prioritization”.
“You have to look no further than the decision to capitalize the Central Bank with an additional BDZ$20 million. When I spoke of it, the member from Freetown got up and eloquently tried to correct me. But I stand by my position; this is another example of mis-prioritization,” Barrow said as he led off the debate on the fiscal package that Prime Minister Briceño had said, “is nothing short of spectacular, in terms of the overall budget outlook”.
But Barrow, who resumed the position of Opposition Leader for the second time within a one-year period, told legislators that the money being given to the Central Bank is tantamount to creating a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.
“The problem is inflation. The problem we have is a housing problem. The problem we have is a poverty problem. Those are the problems we have. The Central Bank has had the same capital for the last 40 years.
“It has not been a problem. You could have taken that 20 million dollars and invested it into education, the student loan scheme failing the Belizean people the housing, the minister, not just the minister, Plan Belize promised ten thousand houses.”
Barrow said while he appreciates the houses given by the government to the constituencies, promising a further 10,000 houses “in this term is a wrong lie and that is what this budget represents, a betrayal of the Belizean people Madam Speaker.”
Barrow was also critical of the government over what he termed its failure to address citizen security, crime, and violence.
He said while more money is being invested in the Office of the Prime Minister, the budget for the Ministry of Home Affairs has been cut.
Under a United Democratic Party (UDP) administration, led by me, I will make sure that our security forces are well paid. For too long, we have mistreated our security forces. Then, what do you expect? How do you expect the crime scenes will be processed adequately?
“How do you expect our security forces will not be compromised when they are living paycheck to paycheck? So let us see what it is you promised, Madam Speaker. How can you have a criminal justice system that works when you refuse to increase the budget for the judiciary as you promised,” Barrow asked.
He is promising that next year he will be presenting his own budget “and we will show the Belizean people how we will spend their money.
“You said you will do it, but again Madam Speaker the Belizean people need to realize, as the Member for Caribbean Shores said it, the government of the Prime Minister is talk, lone talks,” Barrow told legislators.
During the budget presentation earlier this month, Prime Minister Briceño announced the restoration of the 2020-2021 wage levels to teachers and public officers as well as expecting to “retire BDZ$86.4 million in public debt, separate and apart from the right of related to the Super Bond discount buyout.
He told legislators that “recurring revenues are projected at BDZ$1.2 billion, which is 7.5 percent over, or BDZ$86 million higher than the forecasted outturn for this fiscal year.
CMC/
