4 days ago
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Belize is marking fifty years of the fixed exchange rate between the Belize dollar and the U.S. dollar. Since May 1976, two Belize dollars have been worth one U.S. dollar, a rate the Central Bank says has provided stability for trade, investment and financial planning. Following the anniversary celebration, Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde told Love News the milestone is one Belizeans should recognise.
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister of Belize: “In fact for younger Belizeans they probably were not aware of how long we have the peg. I’m an older man and I was not aware myself because we’ve come to take it for granted. But it offers some very special challenges to us as Belizeans, as a people. I think one of the things that the fact that we’ve kept this peg this long and we’ve been able to survive with it and flourish under it for so long says something about the Belizean ingenuity that’s built inside of us and all the strengths and all the creative ways and sacrifices and discipline that we’ve exercised in the face of external challenges that have sent us in a very dark space but somehow we’ve always been able to survive, we’ve always been able to be resilient and I think it says something about our character and it’s particularly fitting in this the 45th anniversary of our independence.”
According to DPM Hyde, the stable exchange rate does not erase what families are feeling at the shops. While the Belize dollar has held its value against the U.S. dollar, the cost of living means it can feel as though that same dollar buys less than it used to.
Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister of Belize: “It’s a big challenge that we have. The cost of living is a real challenge for all countries, for all peoples all over this world I believe. That is no consolation to the every day man and woman but it’s a reality we have to grapple with and as government we have to deal with forcefully. I think we’ve note done enough where cost of living challenges are concerned for the every day man and woman and we have to be seen to be doing that. I think one of the ways we have to be far more activist is as it relates to the wicked grocers and retailers who insist on gouging every day people and who insist on taking advantage of our people. I think we have to be really activists, we have to hold these people to account, we have to make examples of them, we have to lock them down or lock them up. We have to do what we have to do to make sure that they are honest in the prices that they give our people. It’s a discussion that has to intensify, we’ve not relented from this discussion. We’ve not stopped talking about it. I think we have to intensify our actions. I think when you look at it we have subsidized the bus transportation all over this country. I think that’s a very positive thing, that has to deal with the cost of living challenges that our people are dealing with. We have to do more. We have to be activists. Cabinet and the ministers, the area representatives, the ministers of state really have to it has reached the point and the Africans say that the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, they say the next best time is now. I think we as a government have to tighten our own belts, have to make some sacrifices, have to look at our own allowances too because we can’t be living one way and have the people living another way. I think that we have to really do something in that regard.”
English (US) ·