Today, the Statistical Institute of Belize published its latest statistics on the consumer price index, external trade, and gross domestic product in the 2nd quarter of 2023.
Consumer Price Index
For August 2023, the Statistical Institute of Belize’s monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) survey showed that the All-Items CPI, which summarizes price levels across all categories of consumer goods and services, stood at 116.0. This was an increase from 112.2 in August 2022, indicating that the overall national inflation rate for the month was 3.4 percent. Consumer prices, which began to increase sharply in the months following the start of the pandemic, have seen a gradual slowdown in the rate at which they have been rising since the beginning of this year.
The year-to-date inflation rate for the first eight months of 2023 was 4.5 percent (see Table 3). The category of ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ was up by a substantial 13.2 percent compared to the first eight months of 2022, driven by higher prices across all types of food products.
Click the following link to read more: Consumer Price Index, August 2023
Merchandise Trade
For August 2023, Belize imported goods valued at $274.8 million. This was up by 19.4 percent or $44.7 million from the same month in 2022 when imports totalled $230.1 million. Increases were recorded across almost all commodity categories, with the most notable being seen in ‘Mineral Fuels and Lubricants’, ‘Machinery and Transport Equipment’, and ‘Other Manufactures’. On the other hand, a sizeable reduction was noted in imports to the ‘Commercial Free Zones’ during the month. Merchandise imports for the first eight months of the year, January to August 2023, amounted to $1.794 billion. This represented a 1.2 percent or $21.9 million increase from the same period last year when total imports were valued at $1.772 billion.
Total domestic exports for August 2023 amounted to $71.6 million, up by 102.7 percent or $36.3 million when compared to exports for August 2022, which were valued at $35.3 million. Merchandise exports for the period January to August 2023 totaled $311.4 million, down 9.5 percent or $32.6 million from the same period last year when total exports were valued at $344.1 million.
Click the following link to read more: External Trade, August 2023
Gross Domestic Product
Preliminary Gross Domestic Product estimates by the Statistical Institute of Belize showed that, for the second quarter months of April to June 2023, the total value of goods and services produced within Belize was $1.314 billion. This was an increase of 2.6 percent or $33.8 million from the $1.28 billion produced during the second quarter of 2022.
Click the following link to read more: Gross Domestic Product, 2nd Quarter 2023
