(Bloomberg): Belize neared default after the Central American country missed a payment today on about $544 million of bonds and Finance Secretary Joseph Waight said the government is unlikely to pay during a 30-day grace period. The government can’t make today’s $23 million bond payment, Waight said in a phone interview from Belmopan City. Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who won re-election in March, said a restructuring was needed after the coupon on the country’s so- called superbond climbed to 8.5 percent this year from 6 percent as part of an accord reached with investors in 2007. “We simply do not have the capacity to make the payment,” Waight said. “We are hoping to engage with creditors as quickly as possible.”

Barrow projected that Belize’s fiscal deficit will climb to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product this year from 1.1 percent after growth in the $1.4 billion economy slowed and the government took over the telecommunications and electricity distribution companies.

The price of Belize’s dollar bonds due in 2029 fell 0.17 cent to 34.83 cents on the dollar at 1:17 p.m. New York  time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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