The centerpiece of the news last night was the final terms of Superbond 2.0 - which will be launched on Friday. The terms are much improved from the original Superbond, as Belize gets a 10% discount or haircut on all debt, and a savings of 43.25% in Net Present Value.
Those and many other features make it a good deal for Belize, and the best part is, the deal was done without the IMF. An agreement with the fund would surely have forced tax increases and public sector layoffs. In fact, an instructive example of the level of pain the IMF brings can be found in Jamaica. Almost simultaneous with Belize, that country is going through its own debt restructuring.
For context, their debt problems are far worse than Belize's - and now they're going into an emergency restructuring of their domestic debt. The finance mop-up campaign just to get ready for the IMF was launched on Monday in Kingston.
We thought it a useful parallel to what's been happening here - and we have the report Kalilah Enriquez prepared for CEEN News:
The next bombshell came yesterday afternoon in the Jamaican Parliament when the Finance Minister announced a $170 million dollar new tax package.
And again, all this is just to qualify for a loan from the IMF - and that bailout loan will be all for debt servicing. The Jamaican opposition walked out of the house when the new tax measures were announced.
Email
Print