Belize in Recession

What it means to you and me?
The country of Belize has been declared by the Prime Minister of Belize as officially being in a recession for some six months now. Prime Minister Honorable Dean Barrow said in a press conference that the statistics are showing a considerable slowdown in the economy, and though he had been refraining from announcing it, it is now time for Belizeans to know and to brace up to battle the crisis.

What does a recession mean to you and me? First of all we all need to understand what a recession is. A recession is a general slowdown in economic activity and a deteriorating economy. Cash is not moving around from one hand to the other, and when it does it does so at a much slower pace.

It means a decline in the GDP, the gross domestic product, again affecting cash flow. It means for many people unemployment. Because of the slowdown in trading, many businesses have to lay off workers, thus an increase in unemployment. It means that the consumer of products is spending less, thus the businesses experience a decrease in their sales and those offering services experience it likewise.

To put it in very simple terms for those who do not understand economics, it means “hard times”. “Noh money deh!” Those who had it good will now have it a little bad. Those who had it bad will have it worse. Those who had it really bad are now in crisis with the possibility of losing their jobs, homes, or property. Some even lose their lives.

So what does this mean to you and me? It means that if we are serious and responsible, we have to brace up for the hard times. First of all we have to modify or slow down on our spending. If you were buying brand names for $100, we need to tighten up by purchasing regular brand for half the price. If you were spending extensively on non necessary items like cigarettes, liquor, jewelry, pleasure traveling, etc, you must slow down, if not cut it off completely.

In the homes we can save on electricity, telephone, water, and other utilities by being careful how we use them. For example, when a room is not being used at night, cut off the power in that room, and if you are used to opening the shower for 15 minutes to take a good shower, open the shower to soap up properly, then close it, and then open again to rinse at the end. Got It? Why Not?

You will be surprised how much money you can save and all of this helps the country in the fight to come out of the recession. Cut of wastage. Again you will be surprised how much waste there is in your home if you take a careful inventory.

As a responsible newspaper and as one with a positive attitude Ambergris Today would like to offer useful tips that we can adopt to help during the hard times of the recession. We’ll keep updated and posted with valuable ideas. All Belizeans must do their part to help OUR country to come out of the recession as soon as possible. The good news, most recessions only last a year or two, so the end is in sight. We just need to brace up.