Ask anyone and they'll tell you the cost of living is higher than ever. But according to the numbers, the cost of living in august of this year is pretty much what it was at this time last year - and more than that they are very slightly down from three months prior. According to the survey by the Statistical Institute Of Belize, the prices for items like red kidney beans, rice, cooking oil, coffee and powdered milk all fell substantially and that drove down the rate of inflation.

According to the figures, prices for Red Kidney beans and cooking oil fell by 25.9 percent and 17.9 percent respectively On the other side, prices for items like fuel and butane soared. Consumers paid 12.8 percent more for gasoline and 9.5 percent more for diesel compared to the same period last year.

Channel 7

while kidney beans and cooking oil dropped in price the gasoline soared and taxes increased. If prices are the same as last year, that's a lot of kidney beans and oil people are buying.

Also, as I look at it, and as Marty says what public opinion is...the cost of living is the cost of living. One lives on much more than the SELECTED economic indicators the GOB regulates and chooses to measure.
Pardon me if I am not laughing at, yet another local joke.
Wonderful people who work on the Island are leaving, and discussing leaving to go back to other parts of Belize, because they can live more cheaply off the land with their families. It's sad, and really affects the quality of life for all of us.