Unemployment at 3 percent in April 2024, economy grows by 10 percent in the first quarter of 2024 and direct contribution of tourism to Belize’s economy estimated at 11.8 percent of GDP

Belize’s total imports of goods for May 2024 were valued at $251.2 million. This represented a 4.6 percent or $10.9 million increase from May 2023, when imports were valued at $240.3 million. Merchandise imports for the first five months, January to May of 2024, amounted to $1.236 billion, an increase of 14 percent or $151.3 million, from $1.084 billion in the first five months of 2024.

Merchandise exports for May 2024 totaled $40.9 million, up by 34.1 percent or $10.4 million when compared to exports for May 2023, which were valued at $30.5 million. Merchandise exports for the period January to May 2024 totaled $165.6 million, an increase of 7.2 percent or $11.1 million from $154.5 million for the same period in 2023.

Click the following link to read more: External Trade, May 2024

For the month of May 2024, the national Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) stood at 44.4, representing an increase of 20 percent from 37.0 in April 2024. All sub-categories of consumer confidence increased during the one month period, driven primarily by a rise in the ‘Durable goods’ sub-index, which was up from 26.5 in April 2024 to 38.1 in May 2024, indicating that consumers were, on average, less pessimistic about making major purchases of durable goods.

Click the following link to read more: Consumer Confidence Index, May 2024

Preliminary Gross Domestic Product estimates by the Statistical Institute of Belize showed that, for the first quarter months of January to March 2024, the total value of goods and services produced within the country was $1.49 billion. This represented a 10 percent or $136.2 million increase, from $1.36 billion produced during the first quarter of 2023.

Click the following link to read more: Gross Domestic Product, 1st Quarter 2024

Preliminary results from the Statistical Institute of Belize’s most recent Labour Force Survey (LFS) indicate that the unemployment rate in April 2024 was 3 percent, a slight increase from 2.8 percent in April 2023. This marginal rise can be primarily attributed to a reduction of nearly 3,000 employed persons compared to the previous year, coupled with an increase in individuals exiting the labour force.

Click the following link to read more: Labour Force Survey, April 2024

For the year 2019, the direct contribution of Belize’s tourism industry to the national economy stood at 11.8 percent of total GDP, making it the second largest contributor to GDP among the country’s major industries. Total internal tourism expenditure within Belize for the year 2019 was valued at about $1.099 billion, almost all of which was from inbound tourism expenditure (see Table 1). Tourism was the country’s single largest foreign exchange earner, with total expenditure by inbound tourists amounting to more than double the value of all merchandise exports in 2019. During this period, tourism also accounted for one in every seven jobs in Belize, with just under 25,000 persons employed in more than 2,200 establishments within this industry.

Click the following link to read more: Tourism Satellite Account, 2019