Day One of GST-Free Weekend Sees Mixed Crowds Across the Country

Today marked the return of the GST-Free weekend initiative rolled out by the Government of Belize. As announced in the July 17 Cabinet briefing, the weekend of July 31-August 2 will see the 12.5 percent General Sales Tax removed from a select number of items. The initiative is aimed at giving Belizeans some economic relief as they prepare for back-to-school. Items on the list included cloth for making uniforms, ready-made uniforms, pencils, paper, and other school supplies. Love News understands that some stores in parts of the country, like the Belize District and Corozal, saw an influx of customers taking advantage of the tax break, while in the southern districts, the crowds weren’t notable on day one. In Belize City the Angelus Press was one of the stores that saw a major boost in the number of customers trying to cash in on the savings.

John Gillett, Operations Manager, The Angelus Press: “Well people have been saving, that I can tell you because the last two days leading up to this sale we saw a big slow down in purchases which kind of indicated to you people were aware of and are awaiting this sale. This right here for example is our best seller, these are the things that people are really coming in today and purchasing and taking advantage of Copy paper and what we have done in some cases like that is not only remove the GST but we’ve also put additional discounts so that our customers can benefit from it. Bristol boards we’ve done the same thing, there’s additional discounts aside from just the GST and because we have a role to play. The government has done its part but we also have a part as a business community to help people to stretch their dollar. So if you notice some of our tags have up to 40% off and that is also aside from the GST. Thankfully there are some hot items that are already on the GST free list like schoolbags. Of course everybody needs a backpack or a schoolbag that’s already on the list for GST free before. We have to be restocking often. If you notice some of our shelves look a little bit empty but our merchandizers have to be restocking them quickly. People are shopping. If you look in the store people are shopping. The cashier lines are busy and we’re seeing the action that we expected.”

The next GST-Free weekend is scheduled for August 15-17.