Email

Print

The Association of Real Estate Brokers of Belize held an emergency meeting today at the Biltmore to discuss new Central Bank Regulations that could have a profound impact on the way business is conducted in this industry. Â  Now, Real Estate is not formally classified as a major sector of the economy like agriculture or manufacturing, but this sector provides an important economic impetus, driving construction, employment and services.  But, many times, the proceeds from big money real estate transactions never touch ground in Belize; the money from the sales are often banked abroad.  That represents the loss of serious amounts of hard currency, and in this current economy which is strapped for foreign exchange, government wants those US dollars in Belize.  We spoke to President of the Association Hugo Moguel about the concerns of his membership:…

Hugo Moguel - Assc. of Real Estate Brokers of Belize
"Foreign exchange, all these things they are a lot of issues right now that are impacting our industry and it's happening at the worst possible time. Tourism, real estate are the only two things bringing money into this country right now, the problem is that implementing policies, having restrictions at the lands department. Sudden changes, no consultation, no working together, no kind of warning just sudden moves like that are tremendous shocks to our industry and we part of this is getting a unified voice agreeing that we need to educate people about our industry and work with the different departments in the country. The central bank has been very open to us and I appreciate that, we had several discussions with them, action was taken right away to kind of mitigate the issue at the lands department but this is going to be an ongoing thing. And so we needed to form things up, bring our membership back, give them updates because right now it is the high season in the tourist driven areas and so people need to know. A lot of question were out there and so we needed to firm up the answers for them."

Jules Vasquez
"How much of an impedance, impediment has it been on the sector to have these new regulations basically just force it upon a fast moving industry?"

Hugo Moguel - Assc. of Real Estate Brokers of Belize
"That's the thing that is exactly the point. Everybody wants things done easier right, ease of investing, ease of purchasing. Adding more red tape while they have their reasons why, very good reasons will slow down the process. You extend the period of these transactions, the world can change in a day, people change their mind, we are not the only game in town. People have Rotan just down south, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and their ready to receive investment. Now they've structured their things making it easier for these purchases to take place, foreign exchange is not an issue; we have a big issue with foreign exchange in Belize and we need to recognise that and we need to see how we can be a part of helping the country as well in doing our part to bring that in."

Jules Vasquez
"Is it a case though; we know we're short for foreign exchange and we know that many times when a land transaction occur the foreign exchange never reaches Belize so the patrimony of Belize is sold, fine that's legitimate but then the foreign exchange never touches down in Belize, it stays over there in some foreign bank account. Is this an attempt to end that long standing practice?"

Hugo Moguel - Assc. of Real Estate Brokers of Belize
"A lot of that has happened because the tools weren't given for people to service this industry."

Jules Vasquez
"Now because of this foreign exchange shortage in the country right now is this industry being penalised -- is this industry not being targeted specifically because the government needs a foreign exchange cash cow? Citrus is down, aquaculture is down and hey there is real estate."

Hugo Moguel - Assc. of Real Estate Brokers of Belize
"I wouldn't say being penalised. I will tell you that we are being recognised right, people are realising the potential of this industry. They are seeing where certain loopholes have existed. The problem is that you can see it as penalising because it's just pressure all of a sudden. Consultations have been taking place right so when these moves came about we knew they were coming, we didn't know it was going to come like a sudden move. And so again it was called an emergency meeting because everything happened all of a sudden and people had a lot of unanswered questions. Right now we have to go back to the lands department because we had clarity last but hearing from our opposition and now hearing from our members less than a week later it's already different. We can't function like that."

Moguel says the Association has enjoyed a good relationship with new Governor of the Central Bank Joy Grant, and they will continue to dialogue.