KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - The Belize government is to launch a national bank that Prime Minister Dean Barrow said should place pressure on commercial banks to reduce lending rates to consumers in the future. Barrow said the National Bank of Belize Limited will have a start-up capital of BDZ$20 million (one Belize dollar = US$0.50 cents) that will come from PetroCaribe funds. "The mission of the bank is principally to make residential mortgage and other consumer loans available to lower to middle income Belizeans and in particular to public officers and teachers at cheaper rates than are being offered in the market at this time," he told reporters.