What he calls the finance portion is the amount Belize borrows from Venezuela - about 50 to 60% of the purchase price that we defer and use as a low interest loan.
Belize has already started paying back in for credit it got in the first try at the programme back in 2006 - and payments for the second, ongoing version will start in September of next year.
But, the deal with the Venezuelans is that the finance portion can also be paid in kind - that means, instead of paying cash we can send them products of equivalent value: from rice and beans to what Guyana pays with, jeans - as in jeans pants.
Those options have not been fully explored for Belize yet - but a Venezuelan mission is coming on the 17th to explore these options. They'll meet with the Ministry of trade among others and today Mike Singh discussed the goods and services that are being looked at:..
Mike Singh, CEO- Ministry of Trade
"We are all getting together to look at what products will fit under this. The way the mechanism works is not so much that we pay the finance part of it in products, we actually pay the cash portion. The portion would normally be paid up front, would then be paid to producers in Belize of products that would qualify and those products would then be ship to Venezuela in lieu of money. That's a good thing because it means that we can stimulate production within Belize and it also means that we are not going to have to find foreign exchange."
Reporter
"Do you have any idea though of the general areas on interest?"
Mike Singh, CEO- Ministry of Trade
"Foods products - that's on top of the list; things like grains, chickens, fruit juices - all the things that we produce I think can qualify. The grains are certainly of high priority because its basic food item that can feed animals, but we are also looking at services. There is a potential of trading services for training. One of the areas that they are interesting in is English education. So, if we can offer English education to Venezuelans in exchange for oil, I think it's a good exchange."
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