Belize policy interest rate
Belize has no monetary policy interest rate. The Central Bank of Belize (CBB), acting under the Central Bank of Belize Act (in force 1 January 1982), pursues 'monetary stability, especially stability of the exchange rate' by defending a fixed parity of BZ$2.00 = US$1.00 in place since May 1976, and conducts policy through quantity instruments — primary (cash) and secondary reserve requirements, a securities (Treasury-bill holding) requirement and management of the monetary base — not through an announced policy rate. There is therefore no rate-setting meeting, no decision calendar and no communiqué series to track.
| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | 1976-05-01 |
| Official source | Central Bank of Belize — 'Monetary Policy' and 'Monetary Policy Tools' (core-functions pages, official CBB website): 'Since May 1976, Belize has maintained a fixed exchange rate of BZ$2.00 to US$1.00'; policy operates by 'targeting commercial banks' liquidity through the Bank's management of the monetary base (reserve balances)', with 'adjustments in the monetary base, particularly through the manipulation of reserve requirements (a major instrument of monetary policy)'; on interest rates, 'the Bank does not set any interest rate levied by domestic banks except for the minimum interest rate payable on savings deposits' and 'has opted not to use this as a tool of monetary policy but to let market forces determine interest rate' |
| Last verified | 2026-07-23 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
STRUCTURAL NULL, POSITIVELY ESTABLISHED FROM THE AUTHORITY — not an unavailable figure. The CBB's own description of its framework contains no policy rate: the peg is the anchor and reserve/securities requirements are the instruments. Statutory objectives (Central Bank of Belize Act, effective 1 Jan 1982): 'foster monetary stability, especially stability of the exchange rate' and 'promote credit and exchange conditions conducive to the growth of the economy'. To hold the parity the Bank must keep external assets of at least 40.0% of its domestic liabilities, which is what constrains policy — not an interest-rate reaction function. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE A LOOKALIKE. Four rates exist in Belize that a scraper or a summariser will be tempted to serve as 'the policy rate'. None of them is one, and serving any of them is a factual error: (1) THE TREASURY-BILL RATE (the 91-day/182-day GoB T-bill yield, published in the CBB's Rates statistics). It is a Government of Belize funding rate cleared in a captive market — domestic banks are REQUIRED to hold a proportion of average deposit liabilities in Treasury bills under the securities requirement instituted on 1 May 2010 — so it is an administered artefact of the reserve framework, not a rate the CBB sets to steer the economy. FORBIDDEN as a stand-in. (2) THE LENDER-OF-LAST-RESORT / DISCOUNT RATE on collateralised CBB credit to domestic banks. The CBB states the interest on that facility 'is set at a punitive rate to encourage banks to manage their liquidity efficiently' — i.e. it is deliberately off-market, a penalty ceiling for emergency liquidity, and by construction not a policy stance signal. FORBIDDEN as a stand-in. (3) THE MINIMUM SAVINGS-DEPOSIT RATE, the one bank rate the CBB still administers. The CBB explicitly says it 'has opted not to use this as a tool of monetary policy'. FORBIDDEN as a stand-in. (4) The weighted average lending or deposit rates in the CBB Rates statistics — market outcomes, not instruments. If a downstream consumer needs a Belize interest-rate number, it must be served under its own name (e.g. 'GoB 91-day Treasury-bill yield'), never under 'policy rate'. value: null is the correct answer here. Aggregator trap: Trading Economics and similar sites publish a 'Belize Interest Rate' line, generally the T-bill or discount rate; it is not sourced to any CBB policy decision and must not be cited. The CBB does publish a 'Chronology of Monetary Policy' (https://www.centralbank.org.bz/home/core-functions/monetary-policy/chronology-of-monetary-policy) — that chronology records reserve-requirement and securities-requirement changes, which is the correct series to watch for Belizean monetary-policy action. update_cycle_days is nominal; there is nothing on a fixed calendar to re-check.
Get it programmatically
curl https://latamref.dev/v1/bz/policy-rate
# $0.001 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://latamref.dev/v1/bz/policy-rate/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://latamref.dev/provenance/bz/policy-rateOther Belize series: VAT rate · minimum wage · public holidays · inflation rate (CPI) · corporate tax rate · income tax rates