And switching gears, the government has come up with measures for fuel price relief. Cabinet has decided to cap fuel prices at $13.41 for diesel and $13.50 for regular. According to a press release, this cap will be supported through a fuel price stabilization fund that the government will establish with the Central Bank. The release also says, quote, "Currently, government has already reduced excise taxes by 57% to keep diesel prices at the capped price of $13.41 per gallon these tax reductions represent an excise tax loss of over $30 million (per year)." End quote. They added that without the tax reduction, diesel pump prices would have been $15.54 per gallon at the tax rates applied over the past five-plus years.
Additionally, Cabinet also approved a fuel subsidy of 91 cents per gallon for eligible bus operators for six months, cumulatively amounting to over $1.1 million. This subsidy will somewhat protect commuters from the impacts of fuel prices because while bus fares will increase it won't be as much as was initially proposed. According to another release from the government, commuters would have seen up to a $3 increase on a one-way trip, but effective April 15th, trips below 13 miles will only increase by 25 cents; 13 to 25 miles will see an increase of 50 cents; and trip above 25 miles will go up by $1. These new fares apply to both regular and express runs.
And the bus operators eligible for the subsidy are those travelling in excess of 13 miles, one way. They will be provided with a monthly fuel subsidy for the number of gallons used. Today, the secretary of the Belize Bus Association explained via phone that 90% of bus operators will benefit from this and while it's not the most ideal situation they are glad for some relief:
Ewart Metzgen - Secretary, BBA
"We were in a meeting with them last week because initially that took place, we wee in discussion for several days, we've been getting our price list together for the raise in bus fairs because in the beginning they did not want to entertain any sort of subsidy when it came to fuel, so the only other option was to go the route of the bus fair. It was then the option of a subsidy came up, adding a subsidy on the bus fair they gave us because that dollar, 50 cents and 25 cents was neither here nor there, it wouldn't help with the price of fuel right now. So we had told them we are not going to agree with that and we then ask us to give them a week to go back to cabinet to see if they could have gotten subsidy, some sort of fuel subsidy which they did go back Tuesday to cabinet and cabinet had approved what they released. It is a relief fund on some of us, especially on some of the smaller operators, it is a great relief for many of us but still, it is helping but they are demanding from the department all these new buses they want us to bring in and stuff like, it's still not helping us to reach that goal of getting new equipment into the country because when we set up the first raise we had agreed to when it went to cabinet, that would have taken care of all that that we could have gone into a bank and show them a plan and say this is how we will make the money to pay back the loan based on that first rates we wanted before it went to cabinet."
Similarly, eligible tour operators will also benefit from a capped fuel subsidy funded by the government and BTB in the sum of 1.5 million dollars for a period up to six months.
