The finances of this country were in good shape when the UDP took office in February of 2008. Money was in the treasury and over $217 million in the reserves.
What the UDP found when they took office was an economy that was back on track. As the Leader of the Opposition demonstrated in his presentation yesterday, the measures taken by the PUP government in financial management and fiscal performance with the successful debt restructuring, tough decisions that were taken even before the general election, yes Mr. Speaker has put Belize on the path to sustainable development. In his presentation the Hon. Prime Minister grudgingly had to admit that the previous government met and in fact exceeded all its key fiscal targets in March 2007. You cannot deny that the overall deficit was reduced to less than 1%, in fact to .63% of GDP, exceeding even our own target that we had set to 0.97%.
Today however less than six months after this government took office�.
You want to answer why they voted you out in 1998, why they kept you out in 2003? Today however less than six months later the economy is coming to a screeching halt unless you do something about it quickly. Belize is now facing the economic phenomenon of an economic slowdown, so called recession compounded by an out of control high cost of living, inflation, and we know what that means Mr. Speaker: recession, inflation - that is stag-flation staring us in the face.
What is happening here it is a karaoke performance we are seeing noh. The same song, only now the karaoke singer is somewhat more glitzy. He has a 24 piece orchestra with him but he is fast finding out that each member of that orchestra is beginning to play his own different tune. And soon the harmony will lead to a cacophony.
And the people out there who are facing the rising cost of living with bread fifty cents more now, they are the ones that you should be looking after. Deal with the high cost of living. Noh watch me, watch yourself.
http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=11776