And, part of their complaint about costs includes a recent increase in border transit fees. Which brings us to the other looming crisis: the one at the Western Border. Brokers and importers have decided to put a stranglehold on government’s finances by basically striking at the border. They say that in protest of new, arbitrary fees by the Border Management Agency, tomorrow, there will be no cargo carriers entering or leaving Belize. That means Customs at the border won’t make any money – when according to estimates it currently pulls in about $100,000 a day.
The standoff started on Monday, but there was some compliance as importers had to pay the fees to get out trucks with essential supplies such as oxygen for the hospital and butane. But that’s done, and now the importers and stockbrokers say they aren’t moving nay goods from the border until the new border management fees are removed.
Two precarious situations and we’ll continue to monitor them.
