And, finally tonight. Minister of State for Finance Chris Coye this week defended the government's fiscal incentives program. It came under scrutiny when we saw that the Caye Chapel Development had gotten 232 million dollars in tax and duty exemptions.
That's lavish but Coye says that it's revenue neutral. Here's his explanation:
Christopher Coye, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance
"But what I would say is, for every concession that is given, particularly through the BELTRADIE process, the fiscal concessions that are granted, BELTRAIDE or the Investment and Policy unit from the Ministry of Investment, conducts a revenue neutrality analysis. And on the basis of that revenue analysis neutrality analysis a determination is made, only or a recommendation is made only when there is a net positive, tax revenue, to the government. So all those concessions actually have a positive effect even in connection with, government revenues. But beyond that, you can see what has transpired over the past few years that foreign direct investment has is at its highest in,history. So it's certainly that foreign direct investment means investment in our economy, which means more business, more employment and more commercial activity, which is a reason why you see our economy growing at rates never seen before. In 2024 our economic growth rate was at 8.2%. When in the history you see consistent growth rates like that? And likewise an unemployment rate is at an all time low, right? Not only our unemployment rate but our under employment rate are at historic lows. When you see that, that's because we're generating confidence to invest in the Belizean economy and because of that, you have commercial activity that that generates employment. So I think there are tremendous positives by the the efforts of this government in encouraging investment, whether domestic or foreign, whether small or large."
