Opposition Questions Belize’s Increased MCC Contribution

The Millennium Challenge Corporation is putting up one hundred and twenty-five million US dollars, but how much will the compact ultimately cost Belizean taxpayers? Opposition senators raised that question this week after government increased its counterpart funding commitment in July. Foreign Affairs Minister Francis Fonseca insists Belize’s contribution is nothing new. He says it formed part of the agreement from the beginning and will come through the Ministry of Finance.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“The budget of course because of the number of commitments that we have. One, as we, each year we increase the number of schools that are participating in the Education Upliftment Project, what people call free education. Every year we increase that. So naturally there’s an increase in the budget because of that. And then we took on, we also, there was a salary increase given to teachers.”

 

Reporter

“But he’s talking specifically in relation to the MCC. Apparently there’s a portion that there’s a portion that the government of Belize is putting, and he  said that when there was the amendment in July, that portion increased by about a fourteen million amount. And so he’s asking where is that coming from?”

 

Francis Fonseca

“I’m not sure what he’s talking about. I’d have to find out what he’s talking about, but the government, yes, the government is committed to providing counterpart funding to the MCC funding that we’re getting. We have a commitment in that regard and that comes from the Government of Belize, the Ministry of Finance. They provide that counterpart financing. That was always the agreement.”

 

Fonseca added that government remains committed to meeting its obligations under the compact, which funds major investments in education and energy infrastructure.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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