Simple directory > Regional > Belize

Country : Belize Official name: Belize Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II (since 1952); Governor General Sir Colville Norbert Young (since 1993) Head of government: Prime Minister Said Musa (leader of PUP) (since 1998) Ruling party: People's United Party (PUP) (since 1998; re-elected 5 Mar 2003) Area: 22,965 square km Population: 269,000 (2004) Capital: Belmopan Official language: English Currency: Belize dollar (Bz$) = 100 cents Exchange rate: Bz$1.98 per US$ (Nov 2004) GDP per capita: US$4,900 (2003) GDP real growth: 4.90% (2003) Labour force: 90,000 (2003) Unemployment: 9.10% (2003) Inflation: 1.50% (2003) Balance of trade: -US$140.00 million (2003) Foreign debt: US$475.00 million (2003) Visitor numbers: 805,000 (2003)

Historical profile

1802 Spain recognised British sovereignty of what became known as British Honduras, but after gaining their independence from Spain, both Mexico and Guatemala laid claim to the territory.

1973 The territory was renamed Belize.

1981 Belize attained independence from the UK.

1984 After 30 years in power, the People's United Party (PUP) was defeated by the United Democratic Party (UDP). Manuel Esquivel became prime minister.

1989 The PUP narrowly won the general election.

1993 The UDP won the general election; Esquivel became prime minister again.

1998 In elections, the PUP defeated the UDP.

2000 The government began reforming the offshore banking sector following international criticism of the country's reputation as a tax haven for the rich. Hurricane Keith caused extensive damage.

2001 Hurricane Iris devastated the southern part of Belize. The UK government suspended its plan to grant Belize US$14 million of debt relief due to the government's failure to reform the financial services sector and abolish tax breaks.

2002 The Supreme Court advised holding a public hearing of the environmental lawsuit against Fortis Inc, a Newfoundland-based power company, regarding the proposed Chalillo hydro project.

2003 The ruling PUP won the 5 March general elections.

2004 A new radio service – Radio Caricom, the Voice of the Caribbean Community – was officially launched at the 25th Meeting of the Conference of the Heads of Government in Grenada on 4 July 2004. Belize is a `pilot state' in the project. On 16 August, the Prime Minister accepted the resignations of seven members of the cabinet.

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