Today, the Statistical Institute of Belize published its latest statistics on the Consumer Price Index, External Trade, 1st Quarter 2021 Gross Domestic Product, April 2021 Labor Force Survey, and the 2018 Poverty Analysis Main Findings.
Consumer Price Index
In May 2021, Belizean households saw the cost of regularly purchased goods and services rise by 2.8 percent on average, when compared to May 2020. The All-Items CPI, which summarizes price levels across all categories of goods and services, stood at 103.1 in May 2021, up from 100.3 in May 2020. This represented an overall national inflation rate of 2.8 percent and was the net effect of higher costs for fuel, food items, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and personal care products being partially offset by lower hotel accommodation rates. The year-to-date or cumulative inflation rate for the first five months of 2021 stood at 1.8 percent.
Click the following link to read more: Consumer Price Index, May 2021
Merchandise Trade
In May 2021, Belize imported goods valuing $161.5 million. This represented a 58.2 percent or $59.4 million increase from the same month last year. Merchandise imports for the period January to May 2021 totaled 760.2 million, representing a 10.2 percent or $70.3 million increase from the same five-month period last year.
Total domestic exports for May 2021 amounted to $45.7 million, up by 23.8 percent or $8.8 million from the $36.9 million recorded for May 2020. Merchandise exports for the period January to May 2021 totaled $172.2 million, up 15.5 percent or $23.1 million from that same period last year.
Click the following link to read more: External Trade, May 2021
Gross Domestic Product
The Statistical Institute of Belize’s Gross Domestic Product estimates for the first quarter, January to March of 2021, indicated that the country’s overall level of economic activity declined by 8.4 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2020. The total value of goods and services produced within the country for the period stood at $660 million, down $60.4 million from $720.4 million produced in the first quarter of 2020.
Click the following link to read more: Gross Domestic Product, 1st Quarter 2021
Labor Force Survey
Preliminary results from the Statistical Institute of Belize’s most recent Labour Force Survey (LFS) reveal that, for the month of April 2021, the national unemployment rate was 11.2 percent. As was done for the September 2020 LFS, refined definitions were implemented for classifying the employed, unemployed, and underemployed, in accordance with a resolution of the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS). The April 2021 LFS will now serve as a benchmark for future Labour Force Surveys. Having been conducted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this round of the LFS also measured the impact of the pandemic on the labour force.
Click the following link to read more: Labour Force Survey, April 2021
Poverty Analysis Main Findings
During the first quarter of 2020, the Statistical Institute of Belize, with the assistance of Statistics Canada, undertook a Poverty Study using information collected from the 2018/19 Household Budget Survey. There were approximately 106,202 households in Belize in 2018, with an estimated population of 389,235 persons. Of the total population, about 52 percent or 201,616 persons were living in poverty, compared to 41 percent or 136,640 persons in 2009. Among the ‘poor’ population, about 9 percent or 35,663 persons were indigent or critically poor, compared to almost 16 percent or 52,185 persons in 2009. About 11 percent or 42,590 persons were classified as vulnerable to poverty in 2018.
Click the following link to read more: Poverty Analysis, 2018
