7 News Belize

Exports Up, So Is Inflation
posted (April 26, 2017)

The latest figures from the Statistical Institute of Belize are out and it shows encouraging news for exports - and it’s mostly thanks to sugar. In March 2017, the total value of Belize’s domestic exports was $69.8 million, up 35.5 percent or $18.3 million from the $51.5 million recorded for March 2016. Sugar was the most significant export earner, while Banana exports also saw earnings up from $6.2 million in March 2016 to $8.1 million in March 2017. Exports of citrus products fell from approximately $11 million to $9.4 million, due to diminished grapefruit concentrate sales.

On the Import side of the equation, Belize imported goods valuing $155 million; this represented a 2.2 percent or $3.5 million dollar decrease from the same month in 2016. Imports to the ‘Commercial Free Zones’ dropped by almost a third, with cigarettes, women’s clothing and storage bags being among the most reduced items. Belize’s largest import type, ‘Machinery and Transport Equipment’, saw a decline, with diminished purchases of items such as four cylinder vehicles, liquid transformers and telecommunications equipment.

And while imports, were down, inflation was up, meaning the prices of goods and services regularly purchased by Belizean households were 2.3 percent higher than they were in the same month of 2016 (See Figure 1).




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