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During last night's newscast, we told you about the latest figures from the Statistical Institute of Belize which showed how the country's economy performed for the last 3 months of 2019. 

Last year was the first time in 6 years that the country's gross domestic product contracted during the fourth quarter. The SIB explanation for the decline was the lasting effects of the extended drought of 2019, which caused poor performance in the major agricultural sectors.

Well, at yesterday's press conference the institute presented a snapshot of the nation's external trade over the last 10 years, where the gap between imports and exports continues to widen. that;That's a trade deficit and it means Belize is spending more foreign exchange than it is earning from the sale of its exports.  It's a highly undesirable state of affairs, and here's what Statistician Jefte Ochaeta had to say on the topic yesterday during the press conference:

Jefte Ochaeta - Statistician I
For the year 2019, Belize imported goods totalling 2 billion dollars. That's an increase of 56.3 million dollars, or 2.9% compared to the year 2018. What happened in the year 2019 was that we saw an increase in most of the categories of goods that were imported into the country. Of significance was manufactured goods, which had an increase of 23 million dollars to 268 million dollars in 2019. Mineral fuels and lubricants also increased by 15 million dollars to 283 million dollars imported in 2019. Food and live animals increased by 10 million dollars to 230 million dollars in the year 2019. Domestic exports for the year 2019 amounted to 411.8 million dollars. That's an increase of 17.9 million dollars, or 4.6% compared to the year 2018. We saw increases in sugar that went up by 25% during the year 2019, compared to 2018. Also, there was an increase in marine exports, which went up from 42.4 million dollars to 48.8 million dollars in the year 2018, due to higher sales in lobsters and conch. Banana earnings also grew from 74.3 million dollars to 77.4 million dollars in the year 2019. There were decreases in the year 2019. We had a fall in petroleum and citrus. We can look at a graph of the imports from the year 2010 up to the year 2019. Total exports for the year 2010 up to the year 2019. And clearly, we see in the graph that the difference or the gap between imports and exports has been increasing steadily after the year 2012. From 2010 to 2012, the gap was at a constant rate, but then, we see a very wide difference, which correlates to the balance of visible trade, which is basically defined as total exports minus your total imports of merchandise. So, as we see throughout the years, the balance of trade has been increasing significantly. Specifically for the years 2014 onwards, that's where we started to see the gap increasing significantly."