By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): Prime Minister John Briceño is standing firmly behind the Social Security Board’s move to invest another $20 million of the workers’ fund into Hydro Belize Ltd., insisting the purchase is both secure and financially sound, even as questions swirl about placing so much of the fund in one company.
Under the proposal, first reported by 7News, the SSB would purchase almost 700,000 shares at $29 apiece, deepening the stake it already took during the company’s public share offer earlier this year. The Board has issued public notice of the planned purchase.
The Prime Minister’s defence rests on a blunt warning about the fund’s future. As reported by Greater Belize Media, Briceño said, “I think it is a good investment. As you all know, social security, the last time I checked, had over a hundred plus million dollars and they need to put that money to work. If they can’t invest that money, by 2030 they will have to raise contributions.” He added that the SSB looks for solid investments returning at minimum five percent, and in a pointed aside, noted that “unfortunately, BTL is nowhere near that and we have to try find ways we can fix that.”
Hydro Belize is no abstract asset. The company, formerly Fortis Belize, owns the Mollejon, Chalillo, and Vaca hydroelectric plants on the Macal River in the Cayo District, which together supply roughly a third of the power Belize Electricity Limited delivers to consumers. The Government acquired the plants from Canada’s Fortis Inc. in October 2025, then sold half the company to the public at $29 per share in an offer that closed oversubscribed in January, with some 2,000 Belizeans buying in alongside institutions. The plants hold long-term power supply agreements with BEL and generated approximately $50 million in gross revenues in 2024.
Still, the proposal has raised eyebrows. With the SSB managing the contributions of some 190,000 Belizean workers and pensioners, commentators have questioned whether concentrating another $20 million in a single company represents prudent diversification or too many eggs in one basket, along with calls for full transparency around the Board’s due diligence. Those questions remain open, and the investment’s wisdom will ultimately be judged by the returns it delivers to the fund.
For now, the Prime Minister’s position is unambiguous: the money must work, the asset is solid, and the alternative, raising contributions on workers within a few years, is the outcome the investment is designed to avoid.
What do you think, Belize? Smart use of the workers’ fund, or too much in one place? Comment below.
The post Your pension fund’s hydro gamble, secure or risky? appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): Prime Minister John Briceño is standing firmly behind the Social Security Board’s move to invest another $20 million of the workers’ fund into Hydro Belize Ltd., insisting the purchase is both secure and financially sound, even as questions swirl about placing so much of the fund in one company.
The post Your pension fund’s hydro gamble, secure or risky? appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
