GST-Free Weekend Returns, Targets ‘Maaga Season’ 

Belizeans will get another break from paying GST in January 2027, with Government scheduling a tax-free shopping weekend for January 23 and 24, just weeks after the Christmas shopping period.

The additional GST-free weekend is part of the Briceño administration’s efforts to ease household expenses during the start of the new year, when many families face tighter budgets after Christmas spending.

Government has already announced two GST-free weekends for December 2026. The January initiative will extend that relief into the new year.

“We already announced two GST free weekends for December 2026. Now we all know that January, we call it maaga season, because people spend everything they have to try to have a good Christmas and when January come all of us are broke. So we were trying to find out how is it that we can find another way to give some kind of little relief to our citizens,” Prime Minister John Briceño said. 

The administration is also reviewing the country’s basic food basket, which currently contains about 40 products. He argued that “some of the things are not the healthiest of food. So we need to look if there are healthier foods to put in that basket.” 

The Ministry of Human Development will lead that exercise.