Economy

THE PRODUCTIVITY MYTH: Why Belize Must Stop Mistaking Consumption for Development

1 day ago By osilva

Belize City: Friday 12th June 2026: Every few months Belizeans are presented with another encouraging report.

Economic growth is up.
Tourism arrivals are increasing.
Foreign investment is expanding.
The banking sector is performing well.
International agencies praise macroeconomic stability.

Government officials speak of resilience.

Banks speak of opportunity.

PANDORA’S BOX IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT: When Government Contracts Begin to Look Like Family Privilege

3 days ago By osilva

Belize City: Wednesday 10th June 2026: The latest revelations involving government payments to a politically connected vendor should not be treated as a passing scandal.

It should be treated as Pandora’s Box.

What is now being exposed is not merely a question of one minister, one ministry, one vendor, or one family. It is a wider question about how government business is distributed, how public money is monitored, and how political access can quietly become economic advantage.

TWO GOVERNMENT BANKS, ONE TAXPAYER: Why Is Belize Creating a Development Bank While Already Owning a National Bank?

1 week ago By osilva

Belize City: Friday 5th June 2026: On June 4, 2026, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance John Briceño rose in the House of Representatives to introduce what many initially viewed as a simple administrative measure: an amendment to rename the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) as the Development Bank of Belize.

According to the Prime Minister, the move is intended to better reflect the institution's present role and align its identity with other development banking institutions throughout the Caribbean.

WHEN THE ENGINE OF THE ECONOMY RUNS ON EMPTY: If Government Can Afford Concessions for the Powerful, Why Can't It Afford Relief for the Productive?

1 week ago By osilva

Special Feature

Belize City: Thursday 4th June 2026: Prime Minister John Briceño may have intended to embarrass the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry when he dismissed its appeal for fuel relief as "embarrassing" and "laughable math."

Instead, his response may have achieved something entirely different.

It may have opened the door to one of the most important economic debates Belize has faced in years.

“Beyond Political Soundbites: Belize’s Agricultural Crisis Demands a National Blueprint, Not Election Season Recycling”

3 weeks ago By osilva

Belize City: Saturday 23rd May 2026” There is indeed a deep hidden truth buried beneath all this emotional rhetoric surrounding sugarcane and diversification in Belize. And the truth is uncomfortable for both the political establishment and the economic system that has governed Belize since independence. Yes, former Minister of Agriculture Jose Abelardo Mai is speaking raw truths about the collapse of sustainability within the sugar industry for small farmers. On that narrow point, he is correct.