Last night we told you about the $82 million that Belize Natural Energy has collected so far this year from oil production in Spanish Lookout. Well, government is setting up a fund to manage its take which, up to September, was only $3.5 million.
It's called the Belize Petroleum Revenue Management Fund. It'll be managed by the Central Bank and a Cabinet release says that all funds derived from petroleum operations will go into the fund. In principle, the fund will protect Belize's petroleum earnings, protecting it from the vagaries of the consolidated fund. The legislation is being drafted by the commonwealth secretariat.
Also, Cabinet yesterday agreed to give sugar cane farmers a break on the duty for 1.342 million gallons of diesel. The duty will be reduced by $2. The relief is an effort to offset the 5 percent reduction in the European Union's preferential price for sugar.
And....pretty soon tourists will be able to come to Belize to get married. Government plans to amend the marriage act and allow tourists, who plan to be in Belize for less than three days, to marry. They hope the move will attract tourists who want to get married in a tropical destination. How it will work is that tourists will apply in advance for the marriage license and any senior justice of the peace will be able to perform the marriages.
