And from Budna to everyday matters - the cost of that 21st century Belizean staple called Ramen could be going up.
If you're a Maruchan fan, you may need to switch to Manna if you want an affordable ramen fix. That's because today in the House of Representatives, a bill was introduced that imposes a 20% tariff on imported ramen noodles.
Today the Prime Minister explained that it's to protect our locally made product, and they've got permission from CARICOM to do so.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"It is a protection, not against, but for our locally made ramen. But as it is our locally made ramen is selling cheaper than what was being charged for the imported one and we have to protect our own and so we believe that after they made an appeal to the Ministry of Investment, the Ministry of Investment came to me to make the appeal and Cabinet felt that it was something good. We got involved with the Ministry of Foreign Trade who in turn discussed it with CARICOM since we are a member of the single market economy to be able to get the approval and so it has been approved that we can put a tariff of 20%."
As we understand it, noodles have a standard tariff of 35% - put that was suspended by the then UDP administration 15 years ago to make it more affordable for the poor.
