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IMF: Favorable On Belize
Fri, August 26, 2011
Government is gloating over a preliminary statement issued by the IMF at the end of its two week visit to Belize.

Government calls the statement favorable because it states that quote, "Belize weathered the financial crisis relatively well, when compared with other countries in the Caribbean Community." It also notes that inflation for the entire year (2010) was zero, and rose only slightly to 0.9 percent in February of this year (2011).

But the statement also says, quote: "...the government needs to adopt a stronger fiscal stance to reduce its dependence on grant and oil revenues, and rebuild macroeconomic buffers to deal with future shocks."

It also urged government to develop a clear plan of action to ease contingent fiscal liabilities, namely those associated with government-guaranteed debt for public utilities.

The full staff report will be prepared by the IMF Executive Board in late October.

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