Posted: Thursday, April 7, 2016. 10:37 a.m. CST
By Aaron Humes: A three-year Growth and Development Strategy seeks to guide overall development in Belize based on an integrated, systemic approach to sustainable development.
Presented today in Belize City, the strategy’s main factors for success are optimizing national income and investment; building social cohesion and resilience; maintaining natural, environmental, historical and cultural assets, and strengthening governance and citizen security.
The Ministry of Economic Development aims, among other things, for 5 percent annual growth in the short to medium term; to reduce poverty by at least half by 2030; to reduce homicide to under 10 per 100,000 annually; to provide universal access to basic and early childhood education and health care; safeguarding natural resources; reducing government waste and improving allocation of financial resources.
The strategy was built on consultation with the World Bank Group and local stakeholders and prior development policy documents, including Horizon 2030, and outside guides including the Millennium Development Goals and succeeding Sustainable Development Goals.
This plan will guide the medium to long term development of the country, although some of its elements will take longer to implement.
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