And from the weighty administrative matters to what matters most to regular folks: when will the cost of living come down. Already, the price of fuel has gone up sharply in the last 22 days, first with the one dollars gas tax and now with the increase in world oil prices. It’s up to seven dollars and sixty cents a gallon in Belize City – this is after the Prime Minister promised in his budget speech that when it went over seven dollars, the would adjust the tax to ease consumers. But there’s been no adjustment and today the Prime Minister changed his position: he said that he is now more likely to adjust the price when it reaches eight dollars.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“The acquisition costs have not increased to the extent that would make us feel that the pump price has become so onerous that government once government once again has to begin to forebear its tax revenue. We’ve got to understand that there has been this huge wipe out with respect to government revenue as a consequence of the plummeting oil prices. Now we have to get our monies to fund government’s operations. So if the prices start going north of $8 it has to mean that the acquisition costs are increasing which also mean that then our exports of petroleum begin to fetch additional revenue for the government. Once that happens and we start getting more money on the front end then we can give up some of that money on the back end to keep the prices as manageable as possible for Belizeans.”
