Consumer Price Index
Figures released by the Institute show that the All-Items Consumer Price Index for September 2018 stood at 105.4, an increase of 1 percent from 104.4 in September 2017. On average, during this month in 2018, the prices of goods and services regularly purchased by Belizean households were 1 percent higher than they were in the same month of 2017. For the first nine months of the year 2018, a year-to-date inflation rate of 0.3 percent was recorded.
Click the following link to read more: Consumer Price Index, September 2018
Merchandise Trade
In September 2018, Belize imported goods valuing $142.8 million. This represented a 1.2 percent or $1.7 million decrease from the same month last year. The slight downturn in overall imports for the month was primarily the result of a significant drop in goods destined for the ‘Commercial Free Zones’, which overshadowed increased
spending across most of the other commodity categories. Imports into the ‘Commercial Free Zones’ plunged by over 42
percent or $15.3 million, from $36.3 million in September of last year to just above $21 million in September 2018, owing to decreased purchases of cigarettes, footwear, clothing and bags. Merchandise imports for the first nine months, January to September 2018, amounted to $1.4 billion, representing a 4.7 percent or $62.7 million increase from the same period last year.
The total value of Belize’s domestic exports for the month of September 2018 was $38.1 million, down 21.4 percent from the $48.5 million recorded for September 2017. Diminished returns from sugar was the principal cause of the decline in export earnings for the month. Although exported volumes of this commodity saw only a slight 3.3 percent drop compared to September of last year, revenues from that commodity fell significantly by 27.2 percent, from $28.5 million to $20.7 million, as bulk sugar was sold for noticeably less on the European market compared to last September. Merchandise exports for the period January to September 2018 totalled $313.9 million, down 14.9 percent or almost $56 million from the same period last year.
Click the following link to read more: External Trade, September 2018
