Overview

The Economic Development Council (EDC) is a public private advisory body and is comprised of 14 members, including 7 senior managers from the public sector and 7 representatives from the private sector. The overall objectives of the EDC are: - To strengthen the collaboration between public and private sectors through meaningful dialogue that leads to positive outcomes facilitating economic development. - To advise on and help develop reforms that improves doing business, enhance the public sector processes and enhances confidence of doing business in Belize. EDC Reforms: 1.) Trade License Reform Objective: To encourage the development of new businesses, products and services. 2.) Secured Transaction & Collateral Registry Objective: Establishment of a Secured Transaction Law, and Collateral Registry System with the aim of improving access to affordable finance. 3.) Credit Bureau Objective: The Implementation of a Credit Bureau System to improve access to affordable finance. 4.) Land Reform Objective: To improve the Lands Department processes for Real Estate Sector transactions. 5.) Taxation Reform Objective: To simplify the regulatory environment for "Ease of Doing Business". 6.) Modernization of Tax Administration of Belize Objective: To modernize the tax administration arrangement by integrating two existing tax departments into a single tax administration through Information Technology support. 7.) Building Sector Reform Objective To create safe and resilient climate-smart business practices. 8.) E-Governance Reform Objective: Create delivery of services online (e-Government). The EDC aims to enhance Belize's business climate by fostering public private dialogue to drive change in service quality for the ease of doing business.