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Dr. Colin Young - CEO, Social Security Board
"What we did is that we started some public consultations regarding the wage band increase. What we are doing now is to currently assess whether we want to stay with that methodology, or whether we want to go to a percentage of insurable earnings. Once that research paper is completed it will be taken to the Board, and then we'll go back out to the stakeholders, the unions the government, the employers to find what is the best mix, you know, in order to increase the contributions. We are at a point at the scheme where the increase has to be done, because of the sustainability of the fund. The question is always going to be, who is going to burden most of the increase. Is it going to be split 50/50 with employers and employees? Is it going to be a different allocation, that's the discussion that has to be had. A very important discussion, but ultimately we would need to see the wage band increase no later than next year."

Reporter
"What's triggering that need for that increase?"

Dr. Colin Young - CEO, Social Security Board
"A couple of things are triggering the need. First, is that the last increase in contributions to social security was in 2003, and of course as you know, there are a number of pensioners that are becoming pensionable, or people who are becoming pensionable now. And when your revenue into the scheme stays the same, but your costs increase every year, obviously you're gonna get to a point where your revenues are insufficient to cover your expenses. For example, our actuary is saying that pension, the number of pensioners increases by about 8-10% per year into the scheme. As you know, when you contribute, the moment you start working, it is the hope that by the time you turn 60 or 65 there will be money to pay you your pension."

"It is because of the fact that our revenue has not increased in terms of contributions since 2003, the increased cost to administer the fund, the increased number of sickness benefit claims, employment injury claims, and other benefits that we offer is now creating a situation where we are running a deficit as it relates to contributions vs. expenditure. What has been keeping the Board financially in the black, so to speak has been the investment income that it gets from the investments in has in utilities, the private sector and so on. And with that income that is now covering the deficit that the Board experiences from contributions relative to our expenditure."

Will SSB Put More Money In Citrus?
One of those SSB investments Young was talking about in the citrus industry. Two weeks ago we told you about the steady decline in citrus production. Major industry stakeholders met to figure out a strategy to help the industry bounce back, and most agree that a major cash injection will be needed. Here's what Young had to say about SSB's stake in citrus.

Dr. Colin Young - CEO, Social Security Board
"SSB has investments in the citrus industry, and you're right whenever there's an impact on the productivity, that will have impact on the ability of the borrowers to repay. However, you may have seen in the public notice that we put out whenever there's an investment that the Board has allocated another $10 million facility as a credit facility to qualify borrowers to come and access funding to transform the citrus industry. The truth of the issue here is that this industry is so critical to the economy of Belize in terms of foreign exchange, in terms of employment when that industry is performing well there's a number of employees each of whom contributes to the social security scheme and so I can say that all of our investments are performing well. That we have, in some cases, like with some agricultural areas, there are difficulties that come about because of like the citrus industry, hurricane for example had some impact. But none of those loans are none performing at the moment."

The Ministry of Agriculture says that it's aiming to increase citrus production to 8 million boxes.

CCJ Rules On Wilfred's Legal Tangle

We've reported several times on the private litigation that Foreign Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington, and his law firm has been tied up in, since 2010. It's a business dispute that he and his former business partners have had, and on Friday, he lost that case in the Caribbean Court of Justice.

The Corozal based real estate company, Progresso Heights Limited, was once a client of Elrington's when he was a practicing attorney. They got into a business relationship with him back in 2004, and he later became a minority shareholder.

That's until 2009, when Elrington and the principals of Progresso Heights had a dispute. They parted ways, but Elrington's Law firm, Pitts and Elrington was supposed to process 18 land titles on their behalf, but somehow, the titles were never done.

The Progresso Heights principals said that he did this because of a "personal grudge", and that's what their attorney, Eamon Courtenay, argued before the CCJ. After hearing from both sides, the CCJ ordered that Elrington return those 18 land titles. The Amandala reports that they have a combined value of almost a million dollars, but coming out of Court on Friday, Elrington told the press that he didn't know how he could comply with the order of the court. Here's how he explained that he doesn't know where these land title documents are, and if his firm actually received them:

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Litigant
"We were arguing a small appeal, where the Courtenay firm was acting on behalf of a company of which I am a shareholder, and the company alleged that they had entered into a contract with me to process certain documents and that we had not processed the documents and we had not delivered them back to them, so he was asking for a delivery back of the documents. The court ordered that the documents be delivered back, I think it is in thirty days. However, our position is that we don't have the documents, we never had it, so I don't know what will happen."

Reporter
"What are the documents about? What is the issue?"

Wilfred Elrington
"Land transfers; it was when I was in practice and we used to do land transfers."

Reporter
"So you said that the court ordered that those documents be delivered; however you don't have them."

Wilfred Elrington
"I don't have them."

Reporter
"So what happens then?"

Wilfred Elrington
"I don't know. My guess is as good as yours. If I don't have them, I can't give them up."

Reporter
"And did he show proof that the documents were delivered to your office?"

Wilfred Elrington
"That was not definitively determined. It was something that happened while I was already in Government and the evidence is, to my mind, absent on that; completely absent."

Reporter
"So what happened to those documents?"

Wilfred Elrington
"I don't know."

Reporter
"Would you say that you received them?"

Wilfred Elrington
"I didn't receive them."

Reporter
"Your office received them?"

Wilfred Elrington
"I can't say that; I have no knowledge if my office received them."

As you heard, Elrington claims that it was never definitively proven that his law firm received the land titles. The position of the other side is that they most certainly have.

H.E. Danny G. To OAS

Today Daniel Gutierrez was officially sworn in as the Permanent Representative of Belize to the OAS. In a ceremony this morning, Gutierrez presented his credentials to OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro in Washington DC. In his address, Gutierrez pledged Belize's support to the OAS stating, "Belize is unflinching in its desire to contribute to the design of an OAS that withstands the test of time and galvanizes the support of our regional and hemispheric stakeholders."

Gutierrez also serves as Belize's Ambassador to the US, and presented his credentials to President Donald Trump last Friday.