And while schools may not re-open soon, what about the economy?
That topic came up today during their virtual press conference on the economy and its performance for the first quarter of 2020. As viewers will remember, the COVID-19 pandemic began to directly affect Belize in the last few weeks of March. By that time, international travel was already shutting down because of the outbreak of the deadly and highly contagious virus. Those in the tourism industry were already bracing for that hit, but today, the SIB told the press that last year's drought was already wreaking havoc on the country's gross domestic product.
Here's statistician 2 Jacqueline Sabal's presentation on the quarterly GDP for the first 3 months of 2020:
Jacqueline Sabal - Statistician II, SIB
"If we look at what each sector contributed to the total GDP in the first quarter of 2020, the sector with the largest contribution was the tertiary sector, which accounted for 62% of production. The secondary sector accounted for roughly 12.6%, the primary sector, 11.4%, and the remaining 14% is in taxes. For the first quarter months of January to March 2020, Belize produced goods and services totaling 709.6 million dollars. This represents a decrease of 33.4 million dollars, or 4.5% when compared to the first quarter of 2019. Looking specifically at the first-quarter GDP at constant prices, over a 7-year period, the largest first-quarter growth was recorded in 2015, at 7.7%. Banana performed well during this quarter. Sugarcane deliveries were up, as we continued to expand into the west. Livestock production increased, and shrimp exports also made some strides. Overnight and cruise tourism grew as well. Now, the 4.5% decline experienced in the first quarter of this year, 2020, is the only first-quarter decline recorded since 2014, when production fell by 1.9%. This 4.5% decline was due to decreases across all sectors: primary secondary and tertiary. The country struggled with dry weather conditions and the impact of COVID-19 restrictions."
"During the first quarter of 2020, the primary sector recorded a total output of 80.8 million dollars. This represents a decrease of 6.6% or 5.3 million dollars when compared to the first quarter of 2019."
"Production within the secondary industries decreased by 13.2%. This represents a 13.6 million dollar decline in output, bringing the total for this industry to $89.3 million for the quarter."
"Production within the tertiary sector decreased by 3.3%, or 15.2 million dollars, totaling $440.2 million for tertiary industries. Within this sector, we saw a decline in the hotels and restaurant industry by 22.5%, or 9.8 million dollars, bringing the total for that industry to 34 million dollars Transportation and communication activities decreased by 8.6%, or $5.8 million, totaling 61 million dollars. Wholesale and retail trade activities also decreased by 0.2%, totaling 149 million dollars. The sector asserting positive pressure on GDP is government services, which increased by 4.1%, or $3.5 million, totaling 87 million dollars, due to normal annual increments."
"I think it's important to note that not only did we struggle from the impacts of COVID-19, but we were also severely impacted by the drought. The drought severely impacted our primary sector."
"Agriculture suffered from that, which then flows through to the secondary sector because the secondary strongly depends on the primary sector. In terms of the impact of COVID-19, we know that our services sector suffered from that. We see the decline in tourist arrivals, which we will continue to see throughout the rest of the year."
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