Consumer Price Index
Figures released by the Institute show that the All-Items Consumer Price Index for March 2019 stood at 104.8, an increase of 0.3 percent from 104.5 in March 2018. On average, during this month in 2019, the prices of goods and services regularly purchased by Belizean households were 0.3 percent higher than they were in the same month of 2018.
Click the following link to read more: Consumer Price Index, March 2019
Merchandise Trade
In March 2019, Belize imported goods valuing $147.2 million. This represented a 1.2 percent or $1.7 million increase from the same month last year. Marked decreases across three of the major categories were the main cause of the slight drop in overall imports for the month. Goods classified as ‘Other Manufactures’ fell by $5.4 million, from almost $17 million in March 2018 to $11.6 million in March 2019, on account of fewer purchases of rangefinders, gold jewellery, lamps and lighting fixtures. Merchandise imports for the period January to March 2019 totalled just above $455 million, representing a 5.9 percent or $25.2 million increase from the same three-month period last year.
The total value of Belize’s domestic exports for the month of March 2019 was $25.8 million, down significantly by 54.4 percent or $30.4 million from the $56.6 million recorded for March 2018. This substantial decline in export earnings for the month was due for the most part to significant reductions in exported quantities of sugar, owing to varying schedules for the shipment of bulk sugar from one year to the next. Merchandise exports for the period January to March 2019 totalled $90.9 million, down 12.9 percent or $13.5 million from that same period last year.
Click the following link to read more: External Trade, March 2019
