Yesterday we showed you what the Deputy Prime Minister had to say about the IMF's recommendations to raise GST from 12.5% to 15%. The advice came in the IMF's required Article IV Consultations. Deputy PM Patrick Faber told us that the government will reject the suggestions and find a way to grow the economy in its own way. In an interview this afternoon, Prime Minister Dean Barrow put it even more emphatically...
Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"You know I made the point to the IMF in the wrap-up meeting we had that when we first re-engaged with the bondholders trying to restructure again the super bond, initially they had sought to insist that a pre-condition to our discussions ought to be Belize's entry into an IMF program. We absolutely rejected that and we proceeded on the basis that Belize is quite capable of writing its own prescriptions and going its own way."
"The fact that we are not in any IMF program, means that, while as a matter of courtesy and respect, we look at what the IMF has had to say. There is absolutely no obligation on our part to follow any of it and certainly with respect to the recommendations as to raising the GST and as to doing away with exemptions and the recommendations having to do with pensions and public officers. We absolutely reject those. As we have made clear repeatedly."
"We've been able to go our own way successfully. There are some current hurdles, there was the economic downturn last year. There was the liabilities that we had to deal with and these have in fact ratcheted up debt so that our debt to GDP ratio is now where we would want it to be, but we have taken our measures as witness the last budget presentation. The economy is already on the rebound and I am absolutely certain that we can in fact find our way out of these temporary difficulties relatively easily."
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