BELMOPAN, Belize, Prime Minister John Briceño does not share the view of the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) that the private sector would need to add BDZ$200 million (One Belize dollar=US$0.49 cents) to the existing payroll to meet the five dollars an hour increase in the minimum wage for all categories of workers an hour, effective January 1, 2023.
“I am just appealing to the private sector to do their part. They will benefit, you know, because the more money people have, the more they can spend, and the more they can afford to go and buy in their stores.
“So, the private sector will benefit, and most businesses are already paying more than five dollars an open hour than what we are proposing. Of the hundred thousand plus workers, bout thirty thousand earn less than five dollars. So, doing all of this will be getting in effect a much-needed raise,’ Prime Minister Briceno said.
On Thursday, the government signed into law Statutory Instrument Number 170, which states that the minimum wage for all categories of workers has increased to five dollars an hour, effective January 1, 2023.
A government statement said that the new increase in the minimum wage is part of its overall strategy to combat poverty and reduce inequality, as outlined in Plan Belize.
As a part of this wage adjustment exercise, the Ministry of Labour is currently reviewing a wage-setting methodology that will be used periodically to determine future minimum wage increases.
But the BCCI, which has objected to the immediate implementation of the increase from the existing BDZ$3.50 an hour, said that adding five dollars would add BDZ$200 million to the private sector’s wage bill overnight.
“That is a concern because a lot of businesses are still, we talk about Belize is growing, in economic circles, we are talking about nascent recovery,” BCCI chief policy analyst, Dyon Elliot, told reporters recently.
“We are talking about just coming out of 2020, almost 14 to 16 percent recession. We are getting back on our feet. A lot of companies are still struggling even getting back to normal. So that is still happening, and I use the analogy on a TV show today. Just imagine it is raining, and the ground is now flooded and saturated, and more rain on top of that. You see how the land is flooded. So, you are already competing with record inflation.
“Belize has not had this level of inflation for the last 13 years, and you know why, fuel prices, inflation, and prices are high. Food prices have been fluctuating significantly. You have the backlog with shipping that has been increasing shipping cost, fertilizer cost gone up, and in this already struggling environment, among other variables…you have a 52 percent increase from 3.50 dollars to five dollars overnight.”
Elliot said the private sector is saying that could lead to some adverse effects on the employees you are trying to consider.
“We have talked to some of our members who said, I can’t afford it if this happens, and I might have to send some people home. I don’t want to, but if that is what is happening, we might have to consider that.”
But Prime Minister Briceño is not buying this argument. He said that the private sector had had ample time to prepare for the increase.
“I don’t think it is overnight because we have been telling them. It was in Plan Belize, and we have been telling them over and over that this was coming. The minimum wage has not increased in ten years, and we have the issue of inflation and poor people the make three dollars and thirty cents, man, please,” he added.
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