Today, the Statistical Institute of Belize published its latest statistics on the consumer price index and external trade for the country of Belize.
Consumer Price Index
Figures released by the Institute show that the All-Items Consumer Price Index for April 2018 stood at 104.7, a decrease from 105.3 in April 2017. On average, during this month in 2018, the prices of goods and services regularly purchased by Belizean households were 0.5 percent lower than they were in the same month of 2017. For the first four months of the year 2018, the country saw a slight decline in consumer prices compared to the same period in 2017, recording a year to date inflation rate of
negative 0.2 percent.
Click the following link to read more: Consumer Price Index, April 2018
Merchandise Trade
In April 2018, Belize imported goods valuing $156.2 million. This represented a 6.5 percent or $9.5 million increase from the same month last year. The ‘Machinery and Transport Equipment’ category recorded the largest increase for the month, growing $8.6 million from $29.1 million in April 2017 to $37.7 million in April 2018, owing to heightened imports of various telecommunication parts, including fibre optic cables, along with greater purchases of coffee roasting machines. Merchandise imports for the first four months of the year, January to April 2018, amounted to $586 million, representing a 1.3 percent or $7.8 million increase from the same period last year.
The total value of Belize’s domestic exports for the month of April 2018 was $27.2 million, down 21.9 percent or $7.6 million from the $34.9 million recorded for April 2017. Sugar contributed most significantly to the overall decline in export earnings for the month, the result of variances in the scheduling of bulk sugar shipments between last year and this year. Revenues from that commodity were down by $11.5 million for the month, from $13.1 million to $1.6 million, owing to the fact that only bagged sugar was exported in April of this year, while exports for last April were comprised mainly of bulk sugar. Merchandise exports for the period January to April 2018 totalled $132.7 million, down 19.6 percent or $32.3 million from the $165 million recorded for the same period last year.
Click the following link to read more: External Trade, April 2018
