The 97th Annual General Meeting of the Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry was held on Thursday, April 27th, at the Radisson Fort George Hotel and Marina. The President Mr. Nikita Usher gave an overview and reported on his mid-term activities.
The highlight of the evening was the address by the Guest Speaker, Rt. Hon. Dean Oliver Barrow gave an overview of the economy, and upcoming projects, concluding, quote, “Belize can certainly expect higher than average growth over the next 24 months.”
He also expressed that “the Belizean economy, with the exception of 2016’s 1.6% contraction, has grown every single year since 2008. This, notwithstanding that already cited gravest of threats to the world’s commercial and financial system which confronted us at the very start of our term. And even last year’s tightening was in circumstances that saw the entire region slide by .9%. In fact, ECLAC reported that the resource rich, hitherto roaring South American economies, declined by 2.2%. Viewed in this frame Belize’s average growth during my Administration’s overall tenure of 2% in real terms, puts us in the best in class category.” and “the economy would bounce back in 2017, trumpeted during the recent Budget Presentation, is already being vindicated by early signals of expansion. For example, first quarter estimates show that sugar production rose by 27% (from 59k to 75k long tons), banana production surged by 52% (from 850k to 1.3m boxes), shrimp increased by 57% (from 241k to 380k pounds) and tourism continues its spectacular, multi-year growth with overnight and cruise arrivals increasing by 2.5% and 8.7% respectively.”
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