Fuel Prices Remain Frozen as Inflation Heats Up

For many drivers, fuel feels like the price that never budges. Even as crude oil has hovered around fifty-eight US dollars a barrel in recent days, Belizeans aren’t seeing relief at the pump. Why? Because fuel in Belize is price‑fixed, a policy the Briceño administration defends as necessary to fund public programs through fuel taxes and surcharges. The prime minister argues that cutting fuel taxes would blow a hole in the budget, tens of millions of dollars needed for things like free education initiatives, feeding programs, scholarships, NHI, and other commitments. But here’s the sticking point: gas and other fuels rank among the top drivers of inflation, and from January to October 2025, the cost of household goods and services rose 1.2% compared to the same period last year. So, the very price that helps pay for social programs also keeps everyday costs high. There’s another layer. As Opposition Leader in 2017 and 2018, John Briceño criticized high pump prices and urged tax reductions when global oil fell. In government since November 2020, his stance shifted: hold fuel prices steady to protect revenues, stopping the release of price changes, until broader tax collection and growth can cover cuts.

 

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

High fuel prices at the pump remain a constant headache for Belizean drivers. West Texas Intermediate crude is trading at US$57.79 per barrel today, following recent price drops tied to global supply concerns and geopolitical tensions, including the U.S. tanker seizure linked to Venezuela. But if you own a vehicle in Belize, don’t count on any relief at the pump anytime soon.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“As much as I’d love to bring down the price of fuel… then okay, if I bring down the cost of the taxes, tell me where we’re going to get the money to be able to do all of these things that we’re doing. If you could answer that, I’d be happy to do it immediately.”

 

The Briceño administration says Belize’s fixed fuel price, despite lower costs on the global market, allows the government to collect a surcharge that funds various programs.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Along with GST and the importation, the taxes we charge on fuel is one of our biggest revenue earners. So, if we cut say, if we reduce it by half, that means that we’re getting off fifty, sixty million dollars off from the tax revenues. If you could find me that next fifty million, I’d be happy to do it today.”

 

SIB’s latest data show gas and other fuels, along with housing, water, and electricity, as the second‑biggest drivers of inflation. From January to October 2025, household goods and services cost 1.2% more than during the same period in 2024. Interestingly, when he led the Opposition in 2017, Briceño criticized high fuel prices, pointing to soaring inflation. He often chided the Barrow administration over the mounting cost of living.

 

John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition (File: October 3^rd, 2017)

“Do you feel comfort by the Prime Minister’s words? A man that constantly changes his mind; a man that you can’t keep him to his word? A man who promised this country that he was going to keep the fuel under seven dollars, and that if the fuel price were to go up by one dollar, he would reduce the tax? A man who right now, the tax on fuel, on premium, is over five dollars? And you are comforted by his words? I don’t think so. The fact is that today, the price of fuel, of oil has been going down and there is no way why it’s supposed to be at this high price. All he needs to do, he could easily take off two dollars tax and keep the price under ten dollars. That’s the least he can do; the least he can do. But yet, he continues to tax we with the fuel, with the G.S.T. – I mean he is putting new taxes on new products on G.S.T. – so we are feeling that pressure as Belizeans.”

 

By July 2018, still in opposition, PUP leader John Briceño again criticized Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s administration for not lowering fuel costs. At the time, premium dropped only eleven cents, to eleven dollars and thirty cents per gallon.

 

John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition (File: July 12^th, 2018)

“The problem with this government is that they are bankrupt of ideas. It is easy for them to tax fuel with forty of fifty percent. Of every dollar that you pay at the pump, between forty and fifty cents goes directly to the Government and it is an easy way to collect money. What the prime minister and his ministers fail to understand is when they do that they are creating bigger problems for the country. The cost of living goes up, transportation goes up, and cost of production goes up. It makes us uncompetitive and once we become uncompetitive then businesses start to either shut down or they start to get smaller. So then less economic activities take place.”

 

In November 2020, the PUP took office, but fuel remained fixed at the pump, contrary to campaign promises on the cost of living. The administration stopped publishing price increases, and today PM Briceño offers a different justification.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“We’re hoping that we could eventually start to ease that as we start to increase in other areas where we could improve the tax collection as the economy continues to grow, that we could then ease off on that, on those taxes and cover it somewhere else. But presently, right now, we don’t, so if we were to cut that then we can’t have the GST-free weekends, the free education, the feeding programs, the scholarships, NHI. All of these things come from our tax monies that have a direct impact on the lives of our citizens across this country. So, we believe that we need to find that balance and as much as I hate to keep it where it is, that’s about the best we can do at this moment. “

 

For many Belizeans, Plan Belize and its pledge to lower the cost of living may have simply been a campaign in poetry. Isani Cayetano for News Five.