Minister of State for the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment, Chris Coye recently returned from the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco.
He today held a press briefing today to go over the outcomes of some of his key meetings - including one with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Korea. They discussed Belize's. Involvement with the Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund - which is a development fund that offers loans at.1 (point 1) percent and a 30-year repayment period.
Coye explained that Belize got a hard-won exception to join:
Chris Coye, Min. of State, Ministry of Finance
"We became aware of a South Korean facility and so we inquired more and looked into whether there's a possibility of us having a direct bilateral arrangement with South Korea for those concessionary funding."
"Specifically, that fund provides credit facilities at 0.1% interest rate per annum. You can't get better than that. With terms of repayment of 30 years, maybe even more. With our meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in Marrakech last week, he was able to indicate to us that Belize has formally been listed as eligible for EDCF funds."
"That's a big achievement in part because strictly speaking Belize is not eligible for those funds because they have an income per capita threshold and Belize is above that. But because of our advocacy, the Prime Minister's advocacy, we were successful effectively in them changing their rules to enable Belize to have access."
Coye says they haven't yet decided which projects they will seek funding for under the program.
