Key Projects of Belize

Salud Mesoamérica 2015

Belize is part of the Salud Mesoamérica 2015 initiative – a public–private partnership aimed at improving health care in Central America. The project’s objective in Belize is to improve maternal, infant and neonatal health services in Corazol, Orange Walk and Cayo through new quality standards and better use of data in decision-making. Funding for the five-year project has come from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Health Institute of the Carlos Slim Foundation and the Government of Spain, which have each donated US$50 million. The funds are being distributed by the Inter-American Development Bank, which is working closely with each country’s government to achieve the project’s targets.

Public-Private Partnerships

The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry recommended the use of public-private partnerships to invigorate the economy in a policy document in 2012, but little has got under way so far.

Utilities in Belize are largely state owned. The Belize Government had its fingers burnt when it sold shares in the Belize Water and Sewerage Company and the majority were snapped up by a foreign-owned company, which raised prices considerably. The government later bought back a majority share in what had become Belize Water Services. Majority stakes in Belize Telemedia and Belize Electricity have also been re-acquired by the government, as they too had ended up in foreign hands.