FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRIME MINISTER OF BELIZE VISITS THE STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF BELIZE

BELMOPAN CITY, BELIZE, May 15, 2025 – The Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) welcomed the Prime Minister of Belize, the Honourable John Briceño, for a briefing by senior management and tour of its headquarters today. The visit served as an opportunity to update the Prime Minister on the Institute’s recent progress, ongoing initiatives, and strategic priorities. Prime Minister Briceño was received by SIB’s Director-General, Ms. Diana Castillo, and the management team. Accompanying him were the Minister of State in the Ministry of Economic Transformation, Honourable Dr. Osmond Martinez, the Ministry’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Carlos Pol; Mr. Ian Courtney, Senior Investment and E-Governance Officer; and Mr. Vaughn Gill, Aide to the Prime Minister.

The visit began with a briefing session where the Director-General highlighted new initiatives such as the production of annual monetary poverty estimates, international trade in services, producer price index, ocean accounts, and preparations for the 2025–2026 Household Budget Survey. Updates were also provided on major projects such as the KOICA-funded ‘Enabling of Belize’s Statistical System Project’ and the upcoming launch of the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics 2026–2030.

The Prime Minister was presented with a summary of key achievements in recent years, including the rebasing of GDP, adoption of updated international standards for the compilation of labour force indicators, and the introduction of new outputs like the Multidimensional Poverty Index, Food Insecurity estimates, and Discrimination Indicators.

The Prime Minister was also briefed on Belize’s improved rankings in the World Bank’s Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI) and the Open Data Inventory (ODIN), underscoring the Institute’s sustained efforts to expand data availability and transparency..

The visit concluded with a tour of all departments, including Economic Statistics, Census, Surveys, and Administrative Statistics, Systems Development and Data Processing, Data Dissemination, Human Resource, and Finance and Administration, where the team observed several innovations in statistical production and application development.

The SIB extends its sincere appreciation to the Prime Minister and his delegation for taking the time to engage with staff and learn more about the Institute’s work.

-END-

For more information, please contact:

Javier Romero
Communications and Marketing Officer
Statistical Institute of Belize
jromero@mail.sib.org.bz
+501 822 2207 ext. 209