Historic Pay Raise at Heart of $210M Spending Plan

The Briceño administration is asking Parliament to approve two big spending bills, together worth two hundred and ten million dollars. The money covers extra costs across several ministries for this year and next, including major investments and day-to-day expenses. But the headline item? A historic salary and pension boost for public officers, teachers, and security forces. Prime Minister John Briceño calls it the biggest pay raise any government has ever given.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“The recurrent is almost entirely the value of the wage increase for public officers, teachers and security personnel as we agreed to earlier this year in negotiations with the Joint Unions. This is the first instance of the four point five percent of the current salaries, as it is estimated at just under fifteen million dollars for the period from first of October 2025 to thirty-first March 2026. When the entire wage and pension increase is implemented, the full eight point five percent the annual value of our increase will be sixty million dollars per year. I wish to underscore that this is the largest increase in wages and pension ever awarded by any government. This wage increase recognize the hard work of public officers, teachers, and security personnel, including the police department, the BDF and the Belize Coast Guard.”