The PM also had to answer for the pump price of premium and diesel which went up by more than 10% last week. It's a direct result of the conflict in Iran which has caused crude oil prices to soar by 60% since the end of February.
And while the Briceno administration has passed on the increases, Leader of the Opposition, Tracy Panton has suggested that he lower the taxes on fuel as was done under the Barrow administration.
When the Prime Minister was asked about it in Belmopan, he said that they have already budgeted for how much revenue they will be getting from gasoline this year and reducing the tax take would cause an economic imbalance:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well the leader of the opposition would fail to acknowledge that the then Prime Minister had Petrocaribe with them, they had the monies from the oil, the revenues they got in, they got a combine of over 6, over a billion dollars off of the taxes so they could have probably do some of that. We are going to do what is necessary to be able too help our people, we are committed to our people, we are committed to the economy and so we have to find that balancing act as to how best to be able to manage these high prices that are coming to Belize."
"We have to be more prudent in how we use our vehicles. We have to take a look and take a balance, as I said the pie is the pie and when we set up the 2026-2027 pie it is set and we already projected the amount of revenue that we are going to collect from that, from fuel and if we were to cut that, then we either have to collect it from somewhere else or cut from some government program."
In 2025, an average 42% of the pump price was made up of taxes.
