Business Establishment Survey
In November 2020, the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) carried out the Impact of COVID-19 on Business Establishments Survey. This survey was conducted on a sample of approximately 2,500 randomly selected businesses across the country and across all main industry groups, to collect data on the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected operations and staffing. Countrywide, the total number of persons employed by formally registered businesses declined sharply by an estimated 35.8 percent between March 2020 and November 2020. As of November 2020, approximately 86 percent of formally registered business establishments in the country were able to remain in operation. About 11 percent of establishments indicated that they had closed temporarily due to COVID-19, while about 2 percent had permanently ceased operations.
Click the following link to read more: Business Establishment Survey
Consumer Price Index
The most recent results from the Statistical Institute of Belize’s monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) survey showed that, for the month of February 2021, the national inflation rate stood at 1.3 percent. The All-Items Consumer Price Index, which summarizes all categories of goods and services, rose from 100.7 in February 2020 to 102 in February 2021. This indicates that, on average, prices for items contained in the basket of goods and services commonly purchased by Belizean households were 1.3 percent higher than they were last February. The year-to-date or cumulative inflation rate for the first two months of 2021, when compared to the first two months in 2020, stood at 1.2 percent.
Click the following link to read more: Consumer Price Index, February 2021
Merchandise Trade
Belize’s total imports for the month of February 2021 were valued at $139.8 million. This was a decrease of 7.1 percent or $10.7 million from imports for February 2020, which totaled $150.5 million. Merchandise imports for the first two months of the year, January to February 2021, amounted to $271.6 million, representing a 12.7 percent or $39.6 million decrease from the same period last year.
Total domestic exports for February 2021 amounted to $31.2 million, up considerably by 58.2 percent or $11.5 million when compared to exports for February 2020, which were valued at $19.7 million. Merchandise exports for the period January to February 2021 totaled $47.4 million, up 32.7 percent or $11.7 million from the same period last year.
Click the following link to read more: External Trade, February 2021
