And tonight there's some good news coming out of the Statistical Institute of Belize. Latest GDP figures released last Thursday by the Institute, shows the country's sluggish economy rebounding slightly after the worldwide recession which has impacted greatly on a number of Belize's main foreign exchange earners.
The figures show that the Belizean economy grew by 2.4 percent in the first half of this year when compared to the same period last year. Producers of government services showed the greatest increase in economic activity with an impressive 16.1 percent increase, the highest in ten years, which was due mainly to the 2010 Population and Housing Census. The struggling tourism industry showed signs of recovery, as the number of cruise ship passengers increased by 8.8 percent. This coupled with a 5.7 percent hike in hotel room revenue led to an overall increase of 4.2 percent in the Hotels and Restaurant sector.
Another area of significant growth is in the wholesale and retail trade sector, bolstered by an increase in consumer spending.
The two significant downsides to the latest report card on the economy, are the Construction sector and the Manufacturing sector. There's been a slowdown in the Construction sector from 2.2 percent compared to 21.2 percent recorded in the same quarter of 2009.
And there have been considerable decreases in the production of citrus concentrates and an 11.6 percent drop in petroleum production. However, there has been an impressive turnaround in the sugar cane industry from last quarter as there was a 35.3 percent increase in sugar cane production. The figures released by the Institute are preliminary ones for the first half of 2010.
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