And even as these grim revelations tumble from the towers of power there is more bad news for government's finances tonight. Moody's, the international rating agency, today announced that it has given Belize a sharp downgrade, taking down ratings two notches in some cases. This bodes very poorly for the still pending US $225 million bond offering.
A release from Moody's explains that the downgrade is, "due to an ongoing increase in government and external debt." The Moody's release also refers to minimal reserves that, last we checked, was at a skeletal $70 million hardly cover for three weeks of imports.
Today Finance Minister Fonseca, Belize bond svengali, said that his team is very confused and is having a rough time because Belize's name in financial circles is under attack. Still he says that Belize is not desperate and still has options; the immediate option being to continue to hold off on the bond offering and, quote: "wait until things settle down."
Read the About Moody's Downgrade from Reuters News Agency.