September 17,
PRIME MINISTER JOHN BRICEÑO’S
STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS
BELMOPAN
17TH September 2024
Good Morning
I am happy to join you at today’s Flag Raising Ceremony.
Happy that among us are students, teachers, public officers, Cabinet Colleagues, our CEO Caucus, our outstanding BDF and some of my constituents from Orange Walk Central.
Thank you for being a part of this event which is another of many events marking our forty-third year as an Independent Nation.
Excellencies of the Diplomatic and Consular Corp
Other invited guests, My fellow Belizeans,
It is one of my greatest honour to address you on our country’s birthday.
Forty three years have passed since that glorious midnight hour in 1981 when the flag of independent Belize rose in splendour, elevating this ‘land of the free’ to the community of sovereign nations.
Four decades and two generations later, our remarkable little country, designed by Divinity to connect the southern regions of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, strides forward as an exemplar of stability, democracy, tolerance and resilience.
We learned many lessons over these decades, among them, that discipline, imagination and ingenuity would be necessary to renew the Jewel’s sparkle.
And today, how bright does the Jewel glitter, after so short a time as four years.
I am happy to report that the State of the Nation is stronger, more hopeful and more confident than at any time in our 43 years.
And I will tell you why.
Because Belizeans are working and Belizeans are winning.
For the first time ever, 97 out of every 100 Belizeans who want a job, have found one.
The SIB reports that the unemployment rate stood at 3 percent since April of this year.
Never before have so many jobs been available and never before has the minimum wage been so high.
In fact, as employers can attest, the jobs boom in the BPO sector and in the tourism industry, as two examples, has brought about a skilled-labour shortage.
The tourism industry for example is one of those areas where as one of the fastest growing sectors in the Caribbean and Latin America we have made remarkable strides.
In the first half of this year, overnight arrivals have surpassed pre-pandemic
levels by 15 percent and increased by 26.5 percent compared to last year.
This historic productivity spread across multiple economic sectors has seen our annual gross production grow by more than 34 percent since 2020.
Gross domestic production as of the end of 2023 has now surpassed 6 billion dollars, the highest level in the country’s history and in the first quarter of this year by another 10 percent.
And the conditions for continued expansion are compelling: inflation is down, falling from 6.3 percent in 2022 to 3.8 percent in 2024; banking sector liquidity is abundant, exceeding 800 million dollars; the Belizean dollar is strong, with over 1.9 billion dollars in Foreign Assets; public finances have been transformed in just 4 years, with public debt down to 63 percent of GDP from 130 percent in 2020, fortified by a primary budget surplus of 1 percent of GDP.
Since November of 2020, the Government of Belize has continuously transformed its investment promotion strategy to attract more foreign direct investment growth.
The latest Central Bank reports state that total FDI inflows for 2023 stood at 320.2 million US dollars and that for the first two quarters in 2024 FDI inflows already stood at 194 million US dollars indicating that at the end of 2024 FDI inflows will surpass the 2023 totals by approximately 20 percent.
Legislative amendments to the Government of Belize’s incentive programs, namely the Fiscal Incentives Program and the Designated Processing Areas Program, have been enacted.
Both have been updated to expand the range of eligible sectors,
accommodate and encourage uptake by micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and make them more forward-thinking and inclusive.
For example, the global digital services sector, commonly referred to as the BPO sector, is now able to benefit, with specific features enabling and encouraging investments in work-from-home arrangements and on-site daycare for single mothers.
MSMEs are now better poised to benefit from simplified and user-friendly processes and features that encourage formalization.
This sector is certainly a major priority for this government!
The contribution to economic activity and employment of this sector cannot be overstated.
Entrepreneurship is key to the development of an economy, sustainability of communities, and the building of a nation.
Therefore, this government is ensuring that our MSMEs grow and thrive.
Recently we launched “the Belize Economic Empowerment Program” (BEEP) where grant funding from the Caribbean Development Fund –800,000 dollars will fund 95 micro, small and medium businesses.
These MSMEs will not only qualify for a grant but will be trained and mentored to ensure their sustainability and viability.
To complement these major initiatives, a National Industrial Strategy with blue, green and orange economic policies is currently under development with technical support from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
This is a first in the region.
To further support small business, small farmers, even new homeowners, Government is making access to finance more affordable.
And as we ring in the New Year, Government will pass legislation so that all mortgages, assignments and cancellation of mortgages for less than $100,000 will be exempt from stamp duty.
This exemption will surely assist lending institutions to compete for your business and bring down interest rates.
To encourage private sector sponsorship and contribution to sports and educational development in Belize, a business tax credit equivalent of up to 30,000 dollars or 1 percent of the tax liability, whichever is lesser, will be granted to a taxpayer donor for such donations.
As much as we have worked to support small business, we also recognize the efforts of hard-working Belizeans and their contribution to Belize’s economic renaissance, even in the face of the challenges of imported inflation.
Effective January 1st., in support of employees, Cabinet has approved that all workers who earn less than $29,000 will be exempt from income tax.
By increasing the income tax exemption threshold from $20,000 to $29,000, an additional 2,851 workers will no longer be subject to income tax.
The income tax laws will also be adjusted to remove existing anomalies so that in no instance will an employed person take home less pay when his/her salary increases.
This amendment will benefit no less than 733 employed persons.
Altogether, by these income tax deduction adjustments, over 3.3 million dollars more will be placed directly into the pockets of over 3,500 employees, an average of almost 1,000 dollars increase in net take home pay to these 3,500 hard working Belizeans.
But the marvel of recent years is less about numbers and more about people.
The marvel is about the farmer in Corozal who told me that he can now deliver his produce quicker and with less damage to his pick-up because of improved farm roads; the marvel is the Sixth Form graduate in Belize City who boasted to me that she will soon enrol in the University of Belize, using her income and savings from a new job at a BPO. The marvel is the Air BnB entrepreneur in Cayo who confirmed to me that she has qualified for tax and duty exemption as a result of Government’s innovative MSME program. Marvellous it is for my elderly constituent who smiled broadly at the assurance that he can now see a doctor and be eligible for his medical tests thanks to the expanded NHI coverage.
The farmer, the recent graduate, the young entrepreneur and the retiree are winners, as are thousands of Belizeans who mirror these individual marvels. Consider that our expansion of NHI brings 216,970 Belizeans into the protective shelter of virtually free primary health care and lifestyle counselling.
Witness the twenty-two thousand and ten students who now benefit from some level of education grant or the 2,300 teachers that are now licensed within a more adaptive, dynamic education framework. Today we have approximately 100,000 students at all levels across the country from preschool to tertiary. Government is providing some form of financial
assistance to over 25 percent.
Appraise for yourself the more than 20,000 citizens who, for the first time are proud land owners, beneficiaries of newly issued titles and leases, possessing now a viable generational asset, and marching toward their goal of home ownership.
Ponder the hundreds of miles of upgraded roadways, feeder and farm roads and village streets that have been realized by our aggressive push for better infrastructure.
This year total capital public investments will approach a historic four hundred and fifty million dollars.
Never before has any Belizean government invested so much in our people and nation.
And to what purpose are all these gains?
The only gain that matters: a better life for the Belizean people.
That our people are healthier, that our children are assured of a seat in the classroom gaining useful knowledge with ready access to digital resources, that we are a society of land owners and homeowners and a widening middle class, and that our farmers and visitors have safe and efficient access to every corner of the country.
This is the kind of progress that ignites a virtuous circle of sustainable and equitable prosperity.
The wealth to be shared is not just of income and industry but of confidence and character.
