At the top of the news, we told you what the Cabinet had to say about the Social Security Board's proposal to make a loan to Pharmacy Express.
The Cabinet also gave some details on the meeting that the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister responsible for religious affairs had with church leaders. Cabinet decided to defer the referendum until further notice and to make the necessary amendments to the Cannabis legislation. As the Prime Minister explained yesterday, that change will ensure that the bill will only be enacted into law after a referendum is held. We'd call this an indefinite hold.
The Minister of Health and Wellness also updated Cabinet on several public health matters, including the Ministry's preparedness for the possibility of detection of the Monkeypox virus in Belize. The virus has already been detected in Mexico, the United States, Jamaica, and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
Finally, from Tuesday's meeting, Cabinet welcomed the news from the Minister of Agriculture, Food Security, and Enterprise that the shrimp industry is rebounding. That industry was decimated by Early Mortality Syndrome detected in Belize in 2015. However, the Ministry of Agriculture projects that this year's shrimp production could reach as high as 2.5 million pounds, at a value of over 12.5 million Belize dollars.
