CENTRAL BANK IN MIDST OF ANNUAL BALANCE OF PAYMENTS SURVEY
(January 12, 2006)

The Central Bank of Belize collects data annually to figure out Belize's balance of payments position. The survey of business enterprises and non-profit organizations resident in Belize is underway now. This morning Love News spoke with an economist at Central Bank, Asenia Novelo.
Asenia Novelo:

The survey, as we mentioned, is carried out on an annual basis at the beginning of the year and it is basically to get information on the transactions that the country of Belize conducts with the rest of the world. So in order to do that there are companies that basically deal with external organization businesses etc. So we would send out these surveys to those companies requesting information on their transactions with the rest of the world. It is important because the information feeds into the balance of payments statistics for the country. Basically that is simply a statistical summary of all transactions that are done between Belize and the rest of the world. There are in flows of foreign currency and there are out flows of foreign currency and so what the balance of payments tries to do is to summarize teh transactions in a statistical format.

The Central Bank of Belize guarantees business that all information submitted will be kept strictly confidential. Novelo says that after the data is gathered and studies, the results will be available to the Belizean Public. The deadline for businesses to submit reports is February 17th. For more information businesses are welcomed to contact the Central Bank of Belize.