But while inflation is among the lowest in the region, Belize's external trade profile is not encouraging. Imports have been trending up with a 46% increase in the last decade, while exports have been trending down. Here's the breakdown
Tiffany Vasquez, Statistician II
"If we look at imports over the past years for the period January to October imports have been trending up we have had a downturn for the years 2016 and 2017 but since then imports have been on the rise again. If we compare imports of 2010 which were valued at 1.1 billion dollars to imports of this year which stands at 1.6 billion dollars it is a 46% increase."
"Imports of manufactured goods which accounted for 13% of all goods brought into the country went up by 14.4 million dollars to 218.5 million owing to higher purchases of items such as metal structures ceramic tiles and vehicle tires, mineral fuels and lubricants which made up 15% of all imports rose by 13million dollars to 246.7 million due mainly to larger imported quantities of both diesel and kerosene fuels."
"Imports into the commercial free zones which comprised 17% of total imports grew by 8.3 million dollars to 269.9 million as a result of greater purchases of mostly articles of clothing and tennis shoes."
"If you look at our domestic exports over the years for the January to October period it is clear that exports have been trending down. After exports peaked in 2011. We more or less maintained that level of export earnings until 2013 after exports declined rapidly bottoming out in 2016, rebounding in 2017 only to fall again in 2018 now we are at a point where we see a small increase."
You can find these and other statistics comprehensive online at the SIB website sib.org.bz.
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