Question: Please read the below speech and summarize key points? I rise to provide the annual accounting of the public finances and the economy, to review
Please read the below speech and summarize key points?
I rise to provide the annual accounting of the public finances and the economy, to review the performance of the National Budget for the current Fiscal Year 2022/23, and to present Governments Estimate of Revenues and Expenditures for Fiscal Year 2023/24. At the onset, let me take this opportunity to acknowledge the efforts of the women of Belize and their indispensable role in the building of our nation. Madam Speaker, the month of March is dedicated to women worldwide. For us, it is a time not only to celebrate our incredible Belizean women but, also a time for us, to recognize the tremendous work ahead if we are to make Belize a truly inclusive nation. I look to a day, Madam Speaker, when this chamber will be equally represented by women and men alike. I also envision the day when from the office of the Prime Minister to the Office of the Sargent at Arms, will be occupied by women. Page 2 of 34 For now, we on this side will continue our work to include women in all levels of leadership and government. To this end, I am happy to say that in both chambers of this National Assembly, we have women in the lead. In the Judiciary we have a woman chief justice and, while in the Cabinet women are in the minority, at all other levels of leadership in my administration women serve as leaders, from chief executive officers to heads of departments. And I must say that Belizean women are great leaders and managers and should be credited for being equal partners in the great performance of this government. This is one of, if not the most, inclusive governments in the history of our nation. A few weeks ago, after a passionate appeal from my wife, the Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children, as well as the Minister of Human Development, Families and Indigenous Peoples Affairs Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Cabinet determined that effective 1st April all taxes will be removed from sanitary products for women. Madam Speaker, as the member from Belize Rural Central said to her Cabinet colleagues, it is past time that we put an end to taxing womens femininity, something she attributed to young Seidi Quetzal who is running a campaign, Dont Tax My Femininity. Page 3 of 34 So, from all of us to women everywhere and to you, Madam Speaker, I say thank you, and Happy Womens Month! #Embrace Equity. At the close of March, this Administration will complete its second full budget year, and I am exceedingly proud to proclaim that our second year, like the first, has attained surpassing successes for Belize and for our people. By almost every measure of economic progress, Belize is doing so much better than before we took office. The economy is growing, expanding in 2022 by an estimated 12.4 percent, more than 10 times the average annual growth rate of 1.7 percent experienced under the UDP administration. Comparing these two trajectories, at the UDP administrations average annual rate of growth, it would have taken almost two generations, a half a century 50 years for Belizes economy to double in size. With the rate of growth experienced and projected under my administration, our economy will double in size in just about ten years. That means a lot more money in ALL our pockets much faster. We said it! We meant it and yes, Everybody wins! More Belizeans have jobs 95 percent of those who seek employment are working. Page 4 of 34 42,965 workers have received a one dollar and seventy cents or 51 percent per hour salary increase because of the recent increase in the minimum wage to 5 dollars per hour. The skeptics on the other side said it couldnt be done, they said who comes next would face the worst. Yet here we are: 68,000 fewer Belizeans are poor, according to the last poverty assessment. Exports are rising. Serious crimes are falling. Fourteen thousand public officers, teachers and security personnel received a restoration of their full wages last July. And a few weeks from now, more specifically, starting 1st of April, we will restore increments for our deserving public officers, teachers, police, BDF and coast guard. For the first time in a generation, Belizes public debt is deemed sustainable, as the countrys indebtedness has been cut in half in just the last two years. And once again, I table a new budget today that contains a primary surplus and a budget that does not include any tax increases WHATSOEVER! Quite the opposite of tax increases, last year, three million DOLLARS monthly or 100 thousand dollars per day in taxes was foregone by our Administration in order to moderate the increase in the pump price of fuel to keep it as stable as possible. Page 5 of 34 Today, on the world stage, in direct consequence of a sustained effort by this Administration to mobilise private sector innovation and capital, to refocus public investments on education, healthcare and vital infrastructure and to build alliances with IFIs, bilateral partners and NGO partners, Belizes position and profile sparkle and shimmer like never before. In just the last few weeks alone Belize has: played host to a senior delegation of executive directors from the World Bank, representing 68 countries; hosted the President of the IDB; served as the venue for the annual meeting of the IDB Governors for Central America and the Dominican Republic; concluded the most positive IMF Article IV Consultation in decades; hosted the Investment Conference: Initiative 20 by 20, Bonn Challenge, and AFOLU 2040 Joint Meeting on Restoring Lands; signed the first major disbursement of 10 million U.S. dollars from the United States MCC Agreement in support of education and reducing the cost of electricity; and, assumed the Chairmanship of SICA following our eventful Chairmanship of CARICOM. And in this month when we celebrate the achievements of women worldwide, we can report the successful implementation of the Women Economic Page 6 of 34 Empowerment Project, which in its first full year of implementation, has already included 44 new initiatives worth more than 2.6 million dollars. How distant now do those bleak, final days of the UDP appear, those desperate times when the government had to borrow a million dollars a day to pay public officer salaries and borrow just to keep the lights on? How distant now are those traumatic times when Belize had effectively defaulted on its international commercial debt and when the devaluation of our dollar seemed inevitable? To that chaos and hopelessness, we shall never return. Not so long as we remain faithful to our sacred pledge that Everybody Fi Win - Todos Ganamos!. In a meaningful partnership with the people and day by day, we have kept moving forward delivering on Plan Belize. Day by day we have kept our focus on addressing poverty, educating our children, keeping our citizens safe, providing adequate healthcare for all, as well as protecting our environment. Together with the support of citizens from all walks of life we are and will continue to be extra for Belize. In my presentation, today, I propose to address five broad themes: First, to outline domestic and regional economic conditions; Second, to review financial sector and real economy developments; Page 7 of 34 Third, to report on the projected performance of this years Budget which ends on 31st March 2023; Fourth, to summarize the estimates for the new Budget, which starts on 1st April 2023; And lastly, to highlight select policies and reforms that can have a substantial impact on the economy, the public finances and, most importantly, the quality of life for the citizens we are sworn to serve. First to External Conditions: The performance of the economy and the budget is shaped by many issues outside of Governments control. As a small, open, and vulnerable economy, external factors such as extreme climate events, global economic shocks like that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, high inflation suffered by the U.S. and our other major trading partners, supply chain disruptions, trade regulations, among others, can either help or hinder our fortunes. For context, global GDP expanded by 3.7 percent in 2022, down from 6.5 percent in 2021. Growth in the Latin American region averaged 3.9 percent in 2022, with the notable performances being the United States of America at growth rates 2 percent, Mexico at 1.7 percent and the Caribbean at 10.3 percent. Growth in Central America moderated to 4.2 percent, down from the 5.5 percent in the previous year. Page 8 of 34 In 2023, GDP growth in the United States is projected by the IMF at a paltry 1.4 percent while the global rate of economic growth will fall for the second consecutive year to 2.9 percent.
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