BELIZE-Parliament extends days for the budget debate.

BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC -Prime Minister John Briceño has defended the decision to extend, for the first time, from two to three days, the annual budget debate, saying it will allow all legislators to contribute to the fiscal measures.

The debate is due to begin on Wednesday. Opposition Leader Shyne Barrow said he would present his budget outlining recommendations for the Government to tighten or increase its expenditure.

Briceño, who said he is not surprised at the Opposition Leader’s position, explained the rationale behind the decision to extend the days for the debate.

“We have decided to have a three-day debate for the first time. When you have two days, you are in a hurry, and often we ask ministers to try to keep it down to 15 minutes. Then we go on ‘til one or two o’clock in the morning, and it’s not fair to the ministers who would like to point out or to address the nation as to their accomplishments,” he said.

Prime Minister Briceño said the two-day debate also affected the Belizean population since “we are making important decisions at one o’clock in the morning.

“So we felt that if we could set it up over three days to be able to allow everybody to speak, not only the ministers and of course the five members of the opposition,” he said, adding that he expects “it’s going to be a respectful debate.”

On March 10, Prime Minister Briceño presented the BDZ$1.36 billion (One Belize dollar=US$0.49 cents) budget to Parliament, which he described as the most significant spending and investment budget in the history of our country.

He told legislators that the last fiscal package had “exceeded all performance markers” and that his administration has “managed to prudently and responsibly configure this new budget with a primary surplus.

“From both a revenue and spending standpoint, Government must be cautious. Therefore, this budget has no new, major tax revenue measure. Yes, we will seek to close certain tax loopholes, to adjust collections for activities such as in the lotteries sector, that is not fairly contributing, and to aggressively enforce the current revenue mandate,” Prime Minister Briceño told legislators earlier this month.