And while the Briceno Administration continues to maneuver all of these groups that are calling for subsidies, certain private sector members are suggesting that the government is venturing down a problematic path.
Last Thursday, at the official launch of the Government's National Investment Policy and Strategy, we had a press encounter with Arturo Lizarraga, the President of Belize Business Bureau. You'll remember that he called for the government to immediately implement the five dollars-an-hour minimum wage to give Belizean workers slight ease from their current financial pains.
In that same context, he insisted that the government should do away with the fuel subsidy in favor of an increase in the minimum wage. Here are those comments on why he thinks that the government should not be placating special interests:
Arturo Lizarraga, President of Belize Business Bureau
"Inflation is not just the fuel. Inflation is the supply chain. We've gone from $120.00 to $200.00 per square foot in construction. And if you look around people are talking about fuel. In fact, I believe that if we implement the $5 minimum wage, we should take away the fuel subsidy. Meaning government should not be giving up revenues, because we have to meet the payroll and of course their payroll will increase, so instead of using special interest, we should allow everybody to benefit."
Reporter
"One local economist has suggested that perhaps government may have a difficult time getting rid of the subsidies after the economy improves."
Arturo Lizarraga
"There is no need for special interest here. In fact one of the proposals we made in March, the Business Bureau made several proposals, one was let's talk to Chavez. If Biden could talk to Chavez, let's get the deal. The guy from the island did it. He didn't show up at the summit, he got his 30% discount, let's do it."
"I'm glad that Caricom had a meeting on the 6th July and agreed they would tackle the issue, so yes PetroCaribe 2.0 is on the table. But we need to push that. But I also believe that we need to also as a country understand that there is a lot that we could do. The days 80% don't own a car, 60% use bicycle and yes some people might laugh and say okay the politician will be riding in cars and we will be on bicycle, but it's also a health issue and we can't believe that we can have our city stretching. We need to have our neighbourhoods design, urban planning where people can walk to their grocery, walk to everything they need, the schools etc. We need to build communities. I grew up where we could walk to school and walk to everything we need. We need to have a plan city and planned urban areas."
