Consumer prices rise 0.4 percent, imports down 10.2 percent and domestic exports down 18.2 percent in December 2020

Consumer Price Index

Results from the Statistical Institute of Belize's most recent monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) survey showed that, as of December 2020, the All-Items CPI stood at 100.7, an overall increase of 0.4 percent from 100.4 in December 2019. This indicates that, on average, prices for items comprising the basket of goods and services commonly purchased by Belizean households were 0.4 percent higher than they were last December. The cumulative inflation rate for the year 2020, when compared to 2019, stood at 0.1 percent.

Click the following link to read more: Consumer Price Index, December 2020

Merchandise Trade

Belize's total imports for the month of December 2020 were valued at $145.9 million. This was a decrease of 10.2 percent or $16.6 million from imports for December 2019, which totaled $162.5 million. Merchandise imports for the year 2020 amounted to $1.6 billion, representing a considerable 20.2 percent or $397.6 million decrease from the total imports of almost $2 billion recorded for 2019.

Total domestic exports for December 2020 amounted to $21.3 million, down 18.2 percent or $4.7 million when compared to exports for the month of December 2019, which were valued at just over $26 million. Merchandise exports for the year 2020 totaled $367.8 million, down 11.1 percent or $46.1 million from the total exports of 2019, which amounted to almost $414 million.

Click the following link to read more: External Trade, December 2020

Imports/Exports Plummeted

The Statistical Institute of Belize is reporting that the country's imports fell by 10.2% for December 2020, when compared to the same month in 2019. Domestic exports also went down by 18.2% in December.

Declines were noted in the Commercial Free Zone, which fell by 35%, and Machinery and transport equipment, which went down by 19%. Imports of Mineral Fuels and Lubricants went down by $4.3 million dollars.

With greater imports of grocery items such as instant noodles and margarine, the food and live animals imports category increased by 2.5 million dollars.

Merchandise imports for all of 2019 amounted to 1.6 billion dollars. That's a 20.2% decrease - or $397.6 million dollars less - when compared to 2019, which almost reached the 2 billion dollar mark.

Domestic exports for December 2020 amounted to 21.3 million dollars. That's a decrease of 18.2% or 4.7 million when compared to exports from December 2019. This decrease was mainly due to the fact that there were no exports of crude petroleum last month.

Merchandise exports for all of 2019 totalled 367.8 million dollars, which is a decline of 11.1% or 46.1 million dollars when compared to the previous year.

Channel 7