Saturday, November 6, 2010

Lionel Pinelo Fatally Stabbed in Bar Fight

At approximately 1AM on Saturday morning reports are that during a bar altercation at Los Compadres Bar located in the Boca del Rio area Lionel Pinelo was fatally stabbed. Two persons have been detained as suspects by the San Pedro Police Department but no charges have been made at this time. Pinelo, who was emergency evacuated to Belize City, succumbed to his injuries en route to the hospital.

IDB President Commends Belize’s Macro-Economic Stability and Control of Corruption

-Press Release – Belmopan- 5th, November, 2010 - President of the Inter-American Development Bank Luis Alberto Moreno has spoken favorably about Belize’s economic position and its success in controlling corruption.
In his opening remarks at a symposium this morning hosted by the Belize Chamber of Commerce, the IDB President stated, “Belize entered the global recession from a position of relative macro-economic stability and came through it relatively unscathed. Although growth decelerated, the economy did NOT actually contract, and macro-economic stability was maintained. Belize continues to have one of the lowest inflation rates in all of the Western Hemisphere.”
On the issue of corruption, Mr. Moreno stated, “The worldwide governance indicators that were released in the course of last month show that Belize has dramatically improved its ranking in the control of corruption. Its rise from the 47 percentile of countries in 2008 to the 57 percentile in 2009 was the sixth biggest improvement out of 207 countries that were examined.”
The IDB President was in Belize for a two day visit in which he met with Prime Minister Dean Barrow, other government officials and representatives of the private sector to discuss the IDB’s continued financing of development projects in Belize and other areas of funding.
During his meeting with Prime Minister Barrow yesterday, Mr. Moreno made a commitment that the IDB would assist Belize with finances for rehabilitation in the aftermath of Hurricane Richard. He assured Prime Minister Barrow that he would personally oversee the fast-tracking of an initial funding component to put in place mitigation measures in areas that have been particularly hard hit.
The IDB President left Belize this afternoon, but other senior IDB staff that accompanied him on the trip will remain in Belize over the weekend.