The “economic train” was more than a campaign slogan. It was the PUP’s promise to pull Belize out of a stagnant economy and put growth, development and jobs back on track. After the party’s landslide victory in 1998, the economy recorded an immediate surge, driven by policies aimed at expanding investment and infrastructure. More than two decades later, former Prime Minister Right Honorable Said Musa is looking back at that period, arguing that his administration did not simply get the train moving, but laid the tracks for key sectors that Belize continues to build upon today.
Rt. Hon. Said Musa
“Well the main goal was to improve the education system, free up the National Health Insurance system, NHI, and basically stimulate the economy by diversification. We cant just depend on sugar and citrus. That is why we introduced the banana industry. That we is why in much later years we had the call centers. And that has become a great success in terms of creating employment for our young people. That is why we introduced and built ITVETs, provided skills for our people, trained thousands of young people in different skills, not only the ITVET in Belize City, but an ITVET in every district in this country. So when they talk now about AI, and all of those things, computers, robotics, because we had the foundation.”
Some historians argue that the heavy external borrowing during that period also led to debt challenges the country continues to navigate.
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