Belize

Belize

The Central Bank of Belize regulates the primary financial mechanisms of the

country, setting liquidity and cash reserve requirements and determining the

interest rate structure. The Central Bank also regulates most forms of foreign

exchange in the country. At the end of September 1996,

after receiving a US$20

million loan from Taiwan and issuing a US$10 million regional bond, international

reserves in Belize reached an all-time high of US$79 million. Budget controls and

high reserves in the early 1990s gave way to increased spending and

Exchange rates: Belize

Belizean dollars (Bz$) per US$1

2001 2.000

2000 2.000

1999 2.000

1998 2.000

1997 2.000

1996 2.000

Note: Fixed rate pegged to the US dollar.

SOURCE: CIA World Factbook 2001 [ONLINE].

widening government deficits in 1997-98, putting pressure on Belize's fixed exchange

rate with the United States. Reserves fell sharply, dwindling to US$43 million by 1998.

The declines were reversed in 1999 due to increased borrowing and larger inflows of foreign

exchange stemming mainly from the sale of home mortgages to the Royal Merchant Bank of Trinidad.

By the end of 1999 monetary reserves had rebounded to US$70.2 million.