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2014-12-19

Direction No. 18/2014 - Duties of Domestic Banks to Supply Foreign Currency for Fuel Imports

The Central Bank of Belize issued Exchange Control Direction No. 18/2014 to mandate that authorized dealers collectively ensure the timely supply of foreign currency for fuel imports by designated entities. The regulation requires domestic banks to offer foreign currency to designated importers based on their proportional share of total banking system foreign assets, with specific amounts notified by the Central Bank monthly. Banks must fulfill these obligations by the last working day of each month and are permitted to sell excess currency in a given month, provided such amounts cannot be credited toward future monthly quotas.

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Central Bank of Belize

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1 EXCHANGE CONTROL DIRECTION NUMBER 18/2014 TO: AUTHORISED DEALERS Duties of Domestic Banks to Supply Foreign Currency to Pay for Fuel Imports by Designated Fuel Importers

  1. Authorised Dealers are collectively responsible to ensure that foreign currency is supplied to designated importers to cover payments for fuel in an orderly and timely manner.
  2. The Central Bank shall determine the amount of foreign currency that each domestic bank must supply to cover fuel payments on a monthly basis.
  3. Each domestic bank shall be required to offer foreign currency for sale to a designated importer. The amount of foreign currency that each bank will be obligated to provide shall be that proportion of the fuel bill which is equivalent to the bank’s share of foreign assets within the banking system.
  4. Each bank’s share of foreign assets within the banking system shall be equal to the ratio of the bank’s foreign asset holdings at month-end to the foreign asset holdings of all domestic banks for the same period. The most current end-of-month ratio will be used for this purpose.
  5. The Central Bank shall provide each domestic bank with a notice that specifies the amount of foreign currency that it must offer for sale to the designated importer to cover fuel payments during the month.
  6. The notice will be given to each domestic bank by the end of the second business day in each calendar month.

2 7. A domestic bank may sell more foreign currency than it is obligated to sell during any particular month to the designated importer to cover fuel payments falling due on the condition that such amounts cannot be applied to any future amounts that the bank will be required to sell in subsequent months. 8. Each domestic bank is required to make available the total sum of foreign currency stipulated by the Central Bank in its notice to that bank to the designated importer by the last working day of each calendar month. Designated Fuel Importers 9. For the purpose of this direction, the following entities are designated fuel importers: PUMA Energy Bahamas S.A.

Controller of Foreign Exchange CENTRAL BANK OF BELIZE

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