By William Ysaguirre

BELIZE CITY, Mon. July 21, 2025

Belizean parents buying school supplies for their children, who will be returning to school next month, will find that their dollar stretches a little bit further during the weekends of July 31st and August 15th, thanks to the issuance of a Cabinet directive last Thursday, July 17, for these two weekends to be free of the General Sales Tax (GST) to facilitate back-to-school shopping.

“This means that no GST will be charged on school supplies, such as textbooks, stationery, ready-made uniforms and uniform fabric, purchased on Thursday, July 31st to Saturday, August 2nd, and also from Friday, August 15th to Sunday, August 17th,” stated a GoB release.

  The directive is in line with a pledge in the PUP Plan Belize 2.0 to reduce the cost of living for Belizeans, and is a follow-up to last year’s GST-free weekends when the Government waived the GST for Christmas shopping last December.