Results from the Statistical Institute of Belize’s monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) survey showed that, in March 2022, the All-Items CPI, which summarizes price levels across all categories of goods and services, stood at 107.8, up from 102.0 in March of 2021. For March 2022, the country experienced an overall national inflation rate of 5.7 percent on the cost of goods and services regularly purchased by Belizean households. This was primarily driven by higher prices for motor vehicle fuels, food items, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Increases were also seen in the cost of restaurant services, household cleaning products, and women’s clothing. The year-to-date inflation rate3 for the first three months of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, stood at 4.8 percent, driven mainly by higher costs for fuel, food, LPG, and restaurant services.
Click the following link to read more: Consumer Price Index, March 2022
Merchandise Trade
Belize’s total imports for March 2022 were valued at $223.5 million. This was a significant increase of 27.9 percent or $48.7 million from imports for March of 2021, totaling $174.8 million. For the first three months of the year, January to March 2022, Merchandise imports amounted to $622.7 million. This represented a 39.5 percent or $176.3 million increase from the $446.5 million recorded for the same period last year.
Total domestic exports for March 2022 amounted to $44.7 million, up by 33.2 percent or $11.1 million compared to exports for March 2021, which were valued at $33.6 million. Merchandise exports from January to March 2022 totaled $90.3 million, up 11.7 percent or $9.4 million from the same period last year, when total exports were valued at $80.9 million.
Click the following link to read more: External Trade, March 2022
