The People’s United Party strongly condemns Government’s refusal to act even though fuel prices continue to soar, increasing the burden on Belizeans at a time when they can least afford it. At midnight on January 14, 2011 the price for a gallon of premium fuel rose to $10.49 while the price for a gallon of regular fuel rose to $10.20.

In March of 2009 when fuel prices were less than $7.00 per gallon, Prime Minister Barrow went on record in his budget presentation to commit to reducing government’s take on fuel if pump prices rose past that point.  “In doing our calculation we were guided by best estimates of where the acquisition costs for the refined products will be over the next year.   If for any reason these turn out to be significantly higher than the experts predict, it is my promise that we would then come back and take off as much of this dollar increase as would put things back in alignment for the Belizean people.”

In June of 2009 when prices had risen to the $8.00 mark, the Prime Minister went on record again to state – “I wanted to assure the House and the nation that no later than when the House meets again next month…certainly not later than when the House meets again in July, the government will unveil the move that it is making to reduce government’s share of the take to help stabilize prices.”

Despite those promises, the Prime Minister of Belize Dean Barrow has made absolutely no move to reduce his government’s tax take on fuel with a view to reducing the cost to consumers.

In an interview on Love FM on the 5^th January, the Prime Minister stated that while he can ease the burden on Belizeans by reducing GOB’s take, he has to analyze the fuel increase carefully to ensure that it is a ‘trend’ as opposed to a ‘blip.’  Statistics prove that since March of 2009, fuel prices have risen steadily to where they stand now. Most industry analysts now expect that the price of oil will meet the $100.00 mark in 2011 and oil prices rose past $92 US a barrel on Monday, January 4, 2011 to a 26-month high, as the new year began with the prospect of higher energy prices to come. The Prime Minister’s position is therefore either un-informed or uncaring. In early 2008, when the price for a barrel of oil was much higher than it is now, the price of fuel at the pumps was under the $10 mark, much less than it is today.

The Prime Minister of Belize is now promising that he will again examine the situation and is “looking at wanting to do something for the next budget.”  How many more broken promises can Belizeans tolerate? How many more times will they be forced to imagine the possibilities while enduring the harsh reality?

With the prices of fuel at the pumps at an unprecedented level, the price of goods and services are increasing daily, causing an upward spiral in the cost of living. This imposes extreme hardships on Belizeans who are hard pressed in the struggle to weather this economic storm.

We are in the grip of a global fuel crisis and the inaction of the current administration in respect of the current fuel tax burden is crippling the Belizean economy.

The PUP calls on the Prime Minister to immediately remove the $1.00 surcharge tax on each gallon of fuel. We also demand that government lower its take on fuel and cut all unnecessary expenditure to offset any revenue losses.

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