Economy grows by 5.2% in the first quarter 2019; unemployment rate drops to 7.6% in April 2019; consumer prices virtually unchanged in May 2019, imports up and exports down in May 2019.

In May 2019, Belize imported goods valuing $169.4 million. This represented a 1.9 percent or $3.1 million increase from the same month last year. Merchandise imports for the first five months of 2019 totaled $771.8 million, representing a 2.6 percent or $19.5 million increase from the same period last year.

The total value of Belize’s domestic exports for the month of May 2019 was $37.1 million, down 35.6 percent or $20.5 million from the $57.6 million recorded for May 2018. Merchandise exports for the period January to May 2019 totaled $176.8 million, down 6.4 percent or a little over $12 million from the same period last year.

Click the following link to read more: External Trade, May 2019

For the first three months of 2019, Belize’s economy saw a 5.2 percent increase in the overall level of production when compared to the same period in 2018. The total value of goods and services produced in Belize was $782 million, up $38.6 million from $743.4 million produced in the first quarter of 2018.

Click the following link to read more: Gross Domestic Product, 1st Quarter 2019

The Statistical Institute of Belize’s preliminary results from its April Labour Force Survey indicated that the national unemployment rate for that month was 7.6 percent, a decrease of 1.8 percentage points from 9.4 percent in April 2018. This has been the lowest rate ever recorded and resulted from a net increase of 8,478 in the number of persons with jobs coupled with a number of persons exiting the labor force.

Click the following link to read more: Labour Force Survey, April 2019