National Bank of Belize’s Finances Improve Under New Administration

The finances at the National Bank of Belize are seeing improvements when compared to the controls that were in place under the previous administration.  These are the sentiments of Minister Christopher Coye, shared with the media on Friday when he was met at the Philip Goldson International Airport (PGIA).  According to the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Cabinet has recently agreed to inject some additional capital into the bank.

Christopher Coye, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance: “The cabinet decided in support of the National Bank that it would provide some capitalization of the bank. What I would say is you look at the history of the performance of the National Bank and as far as that bank it has had a difficult challenge over the many years but it has turned a corner under this administration. I think it has been capitalized with over $35 million using Petrocaribe money under the past UDP administration. That has kept National Bank going but what will turn National Bank is the management, confidence in the board, confidence in the way the National Bank operates and that is what attracts the deposits coming to the bank and the loans come to the bank appeared so much so that the National Bank has grown in the posits by over 60% and similar in loans by over 70%. So that is I think indicative of how National Bank is performing under this administration and going forward. It’s an approach of non interference, an approach of allowing prudent management of the institution.”

The National Bank of Belize was opened as a state-owned bank in 2013 with an initial capitalization of twenty million dollars.