Interpretation

(1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears, the expression“Authority” means the Monetary Authority of Belize established by section 4 of the Monetary Authority of Belize Ordinance, 1976; “the Bank” means the Central Bank of Belize established by 8 “bank”, “banking business” and “financial institution” carry the meanings assigned to them in section 2 of the Domestic Banks CAP. 263. “the Board” means the Board of Directors of the Bank; “forward contract” means a contractual obligation between two parties to exchange a particular property, security or commodity at a set price on a future date; “futures contract” means an agreement, originally between two parties, a buyer and a seller, to exchange a particular property, security or commodity for a particular price at a date in the future, all of which terms are specified in a contract common to all participants in a market on an organised futures exchange; “Government” means the Government of Belize; “Governor” and “Deputy Governor” mean Governor and any Deputy Governor respectively of the Bank; “hedging instrument” means a contract, security or other instrument which can partially or fully offset some type or element of risk; CAP. 263. “licensed financial institution” means any company licensed under the Domestic Banks and Financial Institutions Act to conduct financial business; “Minister” means the Minister of the Government of Belize for the time being responsible for Finance; “notes and coins” means notes and coins issued by the Bank; “option contract” means a stipulated privilege of buying or selling a particular property, security or commodity at a given price within a specified time; “public sector entity” means9 (a) any entity established by Government and specified by the Bank for the purposes of this Act; or (b) any public company incorporated under the Companies Act in which the Government or the Government-owned statutory corporations hold in the aggregate at least twenty per cent of the issued share capital of the company; CAP. 250. “swap contract” means a contractual agreement to exchange a particular property, security, commodity, or a stream of periodic payments with a counterparty; “year” means the financial year of the Bank, which shall be the twelve calendar months ending on the thirty-first day of December in each year. (2) Grammatical variations of any expression defined in sub-section (1) shall be construed accordingly.