Raphael John-Lall
T&T Coalition of Services Industries (TTCSI) Chief Executive Officer, Vashti Guyadeen is confident that small and medium-sized (SMEs) services companies in both T&T and Belize, will benefit from a new and strategic partnership between the TTCSI and the Belize Coalition of Service Providers (BCSP).
“Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) we at TTCSI have a unique opportunity to share our expertise and experience in building an economic sector with our regional counterpart in Belize,” Guyadeen told the Business Guardian in a statement.
Last Thursday, President of the Belize Coalition of Services Providers, Dr Dionne Chamberlain-Miranda signed an MOU for a strategic partnership agreement at the TTCSI’s head office in Woodbrook. The agreement paves the way for the entities to work together, using their respective specialised expertise to support each other with business development and marketing activities.
According to the MOU, TTCSI and BCSP will “explore the effective use and integration of each other’s technologies into the respective solutions being developed and marketed by the two parties.”
Guyadeen explained that over the past few years, the TTCSI has been helping local services SMEs enhance their international competitiveness and break into foreign markets with its Services Go Global and Gateway to Trade initiatives.
She said with this new partnership, the TTCSI will take on a mentoring role, assisting a sister coalition in the Caribbean—the BCSP—with its own growth and development so that it can evolve into a strong support for Belizean entrepreneurs, firms and business organisations.
“Meanwhile, BCSP will work with TTSCI to support collaboration between T&T and Belizean firms in a business-to-business (B2B) environment. In its quest to develop the Belizean service sector, BCSP will draw on TTCSI’s rich experience in this regard, especially in developing “an exporter’s mindset” among such firms and entrepreneurs. This will see BCSP implementing several projects similar to those created and undertaken by TTCSI to make services firms export ready.”
She also said the ultimate mission is to create a resilient, innovative, and sustainable services sector within the Caribbean region itself, with its firms and entrepreneurs capable of competing successfully on the international market and providing prosperity to the wider regional economy.
T&T’S regional example
The statement quoted Chamberlain-Miranda as saying that the BCSP is excited to be embarking on the strategic partnership with the TTCSI, which is setting an example in the region how to build a cadre of services exporters, step-by-step.
“The TTCSI has developed critical competencies in capturing important services trade data and leveraging that to inform and enhance policies supporting the sector’s growth, which we definitely are hoping to acquire ourselves, for the benefit of Belizean services entrepreneurs,” Chamberlain-Miranda said.
She added: “We also look forward to seeing business partnerships and joint ventures eventually taking place between firms in both our countries, and to promoting the Belizean Services Sector in the amazing ‘Doing Business with the World’ Series.”
Opportunities for T&T business
Chamberlain-Miranda also spoke about opportunities in Belize’s business sector at the TTCSI’s head office before the signing of the MOU.
According to the United States Department of State’s website of its profile of Belize, it has the smallest economy in Central America, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$1.4 billion, based largely on tourism.
The United States Department of State also said that Belize’s proximity to the economically developed nations of North America has translated to dependence on tourism as the primary economic sector. Agriculture as the second most important economic sector is based on a small group of exports, including sugar, banana, and citrus juice.
Chamberlain-Miranda gave examples of opportunities for T&T’s business sector in Belize’s agriculture sector.
“Consulting and expertise could come from T&T in the areas of food handling and preservatives, We have been doing value added training for coconut farmers. The European Union and the World Bank have been interested in helping us get into diversfied areas and this is one area of the economy we are looking at. Belize also needs fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides are also important. We also have one of the highest qualities of chocolates.”
While Belize is a small country which has a small eonomy, she said Belize is strategically located in Central America and this could benefit T&T.
“Belize is a great conduit through other countries, which T&T can have access to.”
She also spoke of fiscal incentives for potential T&T investors and said T&T business who want to set up in Belize can easily do it online from T&T.
“The Fiscal Incentive Act provides several different things. There’s a regular one off. So you come into the country for one project and they will provide you with tax exemptions. There are exemptions for SME’s. If you are trying to formalise your business for the first time, they assist you in the processing. Everything is electronic so you can set up your business in Belize from T&T. Everything is online.”
IMF on Belize
In its May 2023 Article IV Consultation with the authorities in Belize, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said economic activity rebounded strongly from the pandemic. “After contracting by 13.4 per cent in 2020, real GDP expanded by 15.2 per cent in 2021 and 12.1 per cent in 2022, led by retail and wholesale trade, tourism, and business process outsourcing.
“Real GDP growth is projected to slow to 2.4 per cent in 2023 and 2 per cent over the medium term as tourism returns to pre-pandemic levels,” said the IMF concluding statement following the Consultation.
The IMF said inflation in Belize increased from near zero in 2020 to 3.2 per cent in 2021 and 6.3 per cent in 2022, led by higher global energy and food prices, despite measures to fix domestic diesel and regular gasoline prices at the pump since April 2022.
“Inflation is projected to fall to 4.1 per cent in 2023 and 1.2 per cent over the medium term, in line with the projected fall in commodity prices and global inflation. Risks to the outlook remain tilted to the downside, including a sharp global slowdown, further increases in commodity prices, and climate-related disasters,” said the IMF.