Diesel Surges Past Fifteen Dollars a Gallon

The pain at the pump is spreading far beyond motorists. With diesel now costing well over fifteen dollars a gallon, bus operators and businesses are paying more to move people and goods, costs that could eventually reach consumers. Calls for government intervention are growing, and Prime Minister John Briceño says possible relief measures are under review. But he warns that fuel taxes support public services and social programs, leaving government to decide how much relief it can afford without creating another financial problem.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“As much as I don’t like to admit or- Successive governments have depended on the excise tax on the importation of fuel because when it’s easily controlled, you know that a hund- a million gallons are coming, so you could collect it. We have been cutting and so far when the prices went down, we’ve made a slight adjustment. I think we’ve lost uh don’t quote me to an exact number, but somewhere around 40 plus million dollars. So I have to sit down with the financial secretary, hopefully today or tomorrow to see what relief we can do. What if it is any comfort in California, there are places where the diesel is being sold for more than $15 with this. In Miami right now, the price is over $13 with this per gallon. And just imagine, when we buy, when we import one gallon of diesel, they’re importing one million.  So they have this huge volume from which they can depend on. So We’re doing our best. We’re trying to do our best, guys, and as much as we want. And if we could do without the tax and then still continue all these social programs that, that I mentioned today from, from education and health and infrastructure development, I would happily get rid of it. But we need it, so we have to walk this fine line in trying to insist … we make sure that we could continue to have financial, sustainability within the government, and also provide a relief that Belizeans, that we want to give our Belizean citizens.”

 

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