Does the International Business Company need to have an initial lump-sum of capital?

No. There are no minimum paid-up capital requirements for a Belize IBC. The owners of the IBC may freely decide as to the amount of the authorized capital to be stated in the IBC formation documents. Furthermore, the owners of the IBC may decide to subscribe for and pay-up for only part of the authorized capital, the remaing part staying unissued and unpaid. The law also does not prescribe any deadlines as to when the authorized capital must be paid-up – this is for the shareholders to decide. As in many other offshore financial centres, it is acknowledged in Belize that a private company may start its business with any amount of capital, or no capital at all. For all legal and practical reasons this is true – You can start your IBC in Belize with just one dollar in capital.