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.
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