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Belize

involved in Belize’s energy, telecommunications, and agriculture industries. From the 1930s until 1997, foreign companies such as Shell, Exxon, Texaco, and Gulf Oil look unsuccessfully for oil in Belize. However, it was not until 2005 that the first commercially viable oil field was found. The field, owned by a company called Belize Natural Energy, is located in near the town of Spanish Lookout in the Cayo district of western Belize. A much smaller oil field was found in 2007 near the town of Never Delay. Production of Belizean oil peaked in 2008 at about 5,000 barrels per day. Oil production has declined since then, with total production dropping to about 2,100 barrels per day by 2014. Belize continues to rely heavily on foreign trade, with the United States as its number one trading partner. Other major trading partners include the states of the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and member states of the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM). Belize’s economy depends a great deal on world prices for its goods. Downward trends in the prices of sugar and bananas, for instance, with its trading partners the United States and Britain, can have a major negative effect that ripples throughout the country’s economy. This is the main rea- son why the government encourages farmers to raise a variety of crops. Better Roads and Utilities Needed An obstacle to economic development in Belize is the lack of what is called “infrastructure investments”—money to maintain roads, bridges, housing, highways, and so on. A road network of 1,785 miles (2,872 km) links the major urban centers, but some areas remain closed to vehicles. During the