Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize. - File

BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC):

The Belize Government is seeking a BZ$25 million (US$12.6 million) concessionary loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to help pay down its debt.

Prime Minister Said Musa told Parliament that his administration would most likely seek a similar financial facility from the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

"This IDB concessionary credit is a crucial component of our overall debt restructuring exercise," said Musa.

New terms

"The dialogue with our private sector international creditors continues following our government's announcement on August 2, that we would seek new terms for that stock of debt."

Belize's external debt stock two years ago was estimated at over US$1.3 million.

Musa said that he was grateful to the Belizean population for its cooperation during the period of adjustment in the past two years.

"During this period, we have also benefitted from the support from some bilateral partners such as the Republic of China on Taiwan and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," he said, adding that "in our consultations with our commercial creditors, we have highlighted the painful contributions that the people and government of Belize have already made."

Adjustment programme

The loans sought from the IDB and the CDB would "also endorse our adjustment programme," Musa told Parliament.

Opposition Leader Dean Barrow, responding to the PM's announcement, charged that the country's troubles were the result of "serial corruption and mismanagement," and that Musa was merely implementing the "painful adjustments" imposed by overseas financial institutions.

"So for them to suggest that this is some sort of a gift from the IDB merely because it is a concessionary loan, again is a form of gross misrepresentation. It is a policy-based loan," Barrow said.