My fellow Belizeans,
We gather on this hallowed Independence Hill, in front of Parliament, in the capital City of the sovereign state of Belize, to mark the 41st birthday of our beloved nation.
I am privileged, for a second year now, to acknowledge the presence of so many distinguished guests and friends of Belize, and to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the citizens and residents of our Jewel, our blessed land.
This year we celebrate our independence in a time of global upheaval.
There is unthinkable conflict in Eastern Europe with talk of nuclear weapons.
In Asia, our close ally, the Republic of China on Taiwan, is menaced constantly by the military threats of its mammoth neighbor.
In Latin America, democratic principles are stressed by the lure of autocracy in addressing injustice, while the passing of Queen Elizabeth II in the United Kingdom will force a rethink of constitutional tradition in Belize, the Caribbean and African Commonwealth.
And of course, even as the Covid pandemic and its massive ramifications recede, the demon of high inflation has been let loose upon the global economy.
This demon devours the purchasing power of the poorest people.
It raises the cost of financing to a point that sovereign debt burdens stand at historical highs.
And rising interest rates, according to World Bank President David Malpass, will inevitably precipitate a punitive global recession, and possibly stagflation, starting in 2023.
Apart from these unprecedented threats to people’s economic welfare and to participatory democracy, the climate crisis is wreaking havoc in every corner of our planet.
Today our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Mexico and of Taiwan where two separate earthquakes caused the loss of life and limb and billions in loss and damage.
As we enter the active period of the Atlantic hurricane season, we in the Caribbean have to deal with the annual shocks caused by ever increasing violent storms.
An IMF assessment showed that two thirds of the 511 disasters to hit small countries since 1950 have occurred in Caribbean countries.
Whether wildfires and droughts in North America, monsoons and flooding in Asia, deforestation in Latin America or crop failure in Africa, the world is unarguably less hospitable to humanity today than anytime in living memory.
Looking in the mirror at 41 and considering the current state of our nation, I believe that this backdrop of apparent worldwide upheaval gives all of us here in Belize plenty of reasons to be simultaneously proud, confident and resolute.
Belizeans can be proud that our Constitution is unblemished in 41 years.
Six times since Independence, there has been an orderly transition of political power, without violence or even the threat of violence.
Just two weeks ago, a new Chief Justice was sworn in and she will oversee an entirely independent Judiciary, free of political control or interference.
The Belizean public square, buttressed by myriad freedoms, and a vibrant, independent press corps, is more lively and more animated than ever.
In just the last few months, two unrelated national petitions have attracted tens of thousands of individual signatures.
This is but one example of Belizean democracy in action.
These are ample reasons for national pride and national confidence.
All of this is in partial fulfillment of Plan Belize.
Equally significant is the fact that Belize’s fiscal and economic health have proven spectacularly resilient.
This year’s National Budget, with a neutral primary balance, will see total spending of 29 percent of GDP.
Thirty point five percent of total spending will flow to the human development pillars of education, health and community welfare.
The public debt, at 132 percent of GDP two years ago, has been slashed to 90 percent of GDP, by a combination of debt restructuring, GDP growth, spending restraint and a revaluation of economic productivity.
This year, in fact, interest on the public debt will represent seven cents of every dollar spent by Government.
Our resiliency is home-grown, not IFI-imposed.
When we look in the mirror at 41, Belizeans should see a country on the cusp of being able to feed itself, a goal so many of our peers yearned to attain at the peak of the Covid pandemic.
Domestic production of various food staples has reached truly impressive levels.
For example:
In 2021 rice production was over 33 million pounds
beans was over 20 million pounds
corn was over 215 million pounds
chicken was over 42 million pounds.
over five million dozen eggs
16.5 million pounds of milk
the national cattle herd stood at 170 thousand heads of cattle
and in Citrus, it has been announced that our growers are getting the highest payment in more than 15 years. Citrus farmers are once again replanting their groves and Government has set aside $15 Million for this purpose.
With an estimated 1,280 acres of vegetable production, Belize is almost self-sufficient in this important measure.
And this agricultural productivity is derived from farmers large and small alike – 14,307 of them, harvesting more than 613,000 acres across this country.
The prospect of national food self-sufficiency has not compromised our sacred pact with nature.
A third or more of our land and our seas are protected sanctuaries, immense stores of wealth safeguarded for the benefit of our children and for their children.
Our recent debt for conservation exchange is now serving as a global model for debt relief and environmental reform.
These are, at 41, immeasurable sources of national pride and confidence.
It is not without irony, I believe, that half a century after the Father of our Nation George Price cautioned us about the risks of unchecked capitalism and unrestrained markets, his caution is being vindicated on a much wider stage than Belize.
So-called developed countries have reconsidered what development truly entails if that development is to be sustainable beyond this year’s profit and beyond this generation.
The social justice of George Price’s “mixed economy,” radical thinking in the Cold War setting, now seems like common sense when we witness the European Union capping the profits of energy firms or the United Kingdom placing a ceiling on household energy bills.
Whether in the case of constant financial support starting with capping the cost of fuel by reducing fuel taxes, subsidies for our cane farmers, further subsidies for our bus companies, tour operators and bakers, Belize can be proud that our public policy makes creative accommodations for the common good, notwithstanding external pressures.
Of course, a nation’s life, its evolution, does not end at 41, and pride and confidence must, as I said earlier, be matched with resolve to address those facets of national development that remain unconquered.
And it is this requisite resolve that has led to the launch of the People’s Constitution Commission, whose work shall commence shortly, to consult far and wide and to recommend constitutional changes that will enhance national unity and upliftment as well as good governance.
It is our resolve to peacefully secure every square inch of territory, land and sea that led us, upon approval in a referendum, to the ICJ for final determination of any claim to Belize by Guatemala.
We are also resolute in rolling back the plague of poverty, so that every Belizean can enjoy the many bounties of our homeland.
THIS IS WHY IN JANUARY THE $5 PER HOUR MINIMUM WAGE WILL BE IMPLEMENTED.
It is why the introduction of free secondary school education has begun at four major high schools on the Southside of Belize City and will eventually be rolled out countrywide.
It is why we continue to hand over the keys to new starter homes heavily subsidized by your government to needy Belizeans in every corner of Belize.
And it is why job creation sits at the apex of importance within Government’s investment policy framework.
That framework is off to a magnificent start, with 332 million dollars of new foreign direct investment anticipated in 2022, principally in the areas of tourism, agriculture, agro-processing and in the BPO sector.
And it is why thousands of hard-working Belizeans are benefitting from new land grants or the regularization of land titles that have been outstanding for far too long.
Granting land to the needy is a unique transfer of wealth, and one that we are devoted to expanding.
On the heels of last year’s historic investment conference, this year, Government is spearheading the first ever MSME Road Show, to bring the enabling tools for small business to every major district and community in our country.
Today there is more than 400 million dollars in the banking sector in excess liquidity.
The Belize Enterprise Revolving Fund (BERF) will diversify the national economy by strengthening and improving MSME competitiveness, through financing and technical assistance.
There is the earmarking of MSME loans, of which 60 percent is to be designated for women.
The MSME Enhancement Program (MEP) seeks to strengthen the competitiveness of Belize’s MSME Sector by fostering exports via the removal of Custom Import duty for a shortlist of packaging and labelling materials;
making Legislative changes by establishing a program to grant MSME businesses operating informally a four-year exemption from Business Tax and GST after registering with the Belize Tax Services and BELTRAIDE.
The Government will also award 20 percent of its procurement tenders by 2025 to MSMEs.
The total annual purchase of goods and services for the government is 225 million dollars, 20 percent of this is 45mn dollars.
Registered MSMEs will be able to tap into this 45 million dollar market.
I am confident that the 16.3 percent growth in GDP in 2021 and the 5.3 percent growth in the first quarter of 2022 is but the start of an extended surge in economic expansion and prosperity.
Our focus, our insistence, is that this growth be equitable, across districts; focused on job creating industry and export-oriented businesses, to further fortify the Belize dollar.
At present, our fixed peg is backed by well over four months of import cover.
We are resolved to transforming the national infrastructure, not with extravagant spending that provides one-time jobs but with targeted, prudent investments that enable product to market transfers and that build intra-community wealth.
At present, 213.3 miles of paving construction is underway as we expand the Primary Road Network.
239.8 miles of improved secondary roads is this year’s goal, as town and village connections are prioritized.
And 11 bridges are under construction, including the 30 million dollars to be invested in a new Haulover Bridge along the Phillip Goldson Highway.
Recently, I led an official mission to Germany to examine an exciting new process for converting sargassum to clean energy.
How inventive a prospect for the coastline litter of sargassum to be transformed into power.
Any power from sargassum will complement the additional solar power that our PUC soon expects to sanction as part of the national generation system.
Soon to commence as well, is a phased, 250-million-dollar expansion and remodeling of the Phillip Goldson International Airport to begin along with improvement to several municipal facilities.
A recent Master Plan for the PGIA envisions 3 million passenger movements by 2040, triple the current level.
A national Ports Policy will lay out the requirements for urgent improvements to the Belize City Port, complementing recent expansion at the Big Creek Port.
And, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has committed to linking Northern Belize with the multi-billion-dollar Tren Maya Initiative in Southern Mexico.
Tourism, the up-market high-end brand, is Belize’s preferred niche and the BTB is resolved to exceed the 2019 overnight arrivals next year, two years ahead of the global trend.
And our resolve to further suppress crime and violence on our streets and in our communities has never been stronger.
A new radar will help in the fight against transnational drug trafficking.
New intakes to the Police and Defense Forces will augment the already elevated cadres of law enforcement officers and expanded training in prevention and prosecution is being funded.
Pride, confidence, resolve.
This is our mantra at 41, writ large and bold across every Belizean sunrise.
Hoy celebramos la independencia de un pueblo…
un pueblo del cual estoy muy orgulloso de reclamar como: “mi pueblo” Belice.
Un pueblo pequeño que hace cuarenta y un años obtuvo su independencia política pacíficamente…
sin derrame de sangre.
Este gran objetivo se logró con mucha as-tucia diplomática y apoyo internacional.
Y en el año 1981 se logró una identidad para nosotros los beliceños.
Compatriotas beliceños, como solía decir el Padre de esta gran nación, hoy en el 2022 estamos, como pueblo, logrando lo que es un objetivo muy real y práctico.
Después de la pandemia estamos recuperando y empezamos a lograr lo que llamamos la independencia económica.
La libertad económica, que hoy es lo que cuenta y es de suma importancia para la sobrevivencia y dignidad de nuestro pueblo.
Para nuestros conciudadanos, poder trabajar o poder ganarse la vida en su propia empresa, por muy pequeña que sea, es un sueño y una aspiración general.
Es por lo que este gobierno ha tomado la responsabilidad de crear un entorno…un ecosistema propicio.
En los dos últimos años es exactamente lo que hemos estado haciendo y hoy podemos declarar que el plan esta funcionando.
Con nuestro PlanBelice se le está creando la oportunidad a todo beliceño para poder trabajar de un modo u otro.
Con esto se está logrando la independencia real de nuestra población.
En 1981 George Price, el padre de la patria nos brindó la independencia política.
Hoy perseguimos la independencia económica que el tanto anhelaba para todo beliceño.
Esto, paisanos míos, me hace retomar los pensamientos del Apóstol de la independencia de Cuba, el célebre Jose Martí, que dijo que “La Felicidad general de un pueblo descansa en la independencia individual de sus habitantes” y que “una nación libre es el resultado de sus pobladores libres”.
And so, to every Belizean student, from kinder to university,
To every Belizean worker, from the public officer to office staff to those in the fields,
To every Belizean homemaker and retiree,
To our entrepreneurs and artists,
I salute you today.
This happy birthday is your collective achievement.
This is your day.
By your pride, your confidence, your resolve, you show the world that small is special, that undeveloped is rich and that third world is first rate.
And so with the guidance of our creator, let us march forward to 42 and beyond, with that singular Belizean faith, that unshakeable belief that the greater glories of tomorrow are sowed today.
To Belizeans at home and abroad I say
Long live Belize.
Que viva Belice.
Happy Independence Day!