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The 2016 growth for Belize is projected to be 2.7%, up from 2% in 2015.  It's far from runaway growth, but - performance wise - it does put Belize in the upper echelon of Caribbean economies.  And maybe that's why - of 19 members countries - Belize is among the top three largest beneficiaries of CDB loans.  For the CDB, the proudest among those is the road safety project focussed on the George Price Highway.  President Smith told us they hope to use it as a model throughout the Caribbean:...

Dr. William Warren Smith - President, CDB

"We are very pleased with the results that have come from that project and we feel that we can use it as a demonstration for the introduction of road safety projects in other Caribbean countries. Belize is a big country; we would also like to be able to deploy that kind of a project more in other parts of Belize."

And they’re already taking it to other parts of Belize -namely the Phillip Golden Highway - specifically between the Haulover Bridge and the Airport.  That is set for a 13 million dollar overhaul which should start in just a few weeks.  Project Director Daniel Best told us more:..

Daniel Best - Director, Project Dept. - CBD

"The George Price Highway is certainly a flagship project for the CDB; it is one that we are very proud of. We expect to see similar outcome, similar benefits to rubdown to this initiative. Since the George Price Highway project, the road safety project has been implemented. We have seen a 40% reduction in fatalities on that transit chord which phenomenal and we expect similar results on the Phillip Goldson Highway in that we will be improving road safety measures in terms of side walk, in terms of street lighting, in terms of signage on the roadway."

And so why is Belize tapping into all these CDB funds.  Only Antigua Barbuda got more CDB funds in 2015, and those were policy based loans to stabilize their financial sector. but in Belize their funds are spent on projects. Director of economics Dr Justin Ram told us why Belize:..

Dr. Justin Ram - Director of Economics, CDB

"And at this point in time Belize is well poised for greater investment and so the CDB has stood ready to provide that type of investment to Belize. It's just a matter of the cycle that Belize is now actually tapping into the resource base of the CDB now but we see that as not a bad thing, we see that as very good actually because the type of investments and the type of loans we are making to Belize, we believe will add significantly to the economic growth rate of Belize over the medium to long term."

Jules Vasquez will have more on that meeting tomorrow from Barbados.