SIB stats show cost of living was higher in 2017 than previous year

BBN Staff: The cost of living in Belize in December 2017 was an average of one dollar higher than it was the previous year, finishing off a full year of elevated cost of living for the country.

The latest Consumer Price Index, released yesterday by the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) showed that for the entire year, the average cost of goods and services had gone up by 1.1 percent.

For the month of December, the Transport category was the single largest category driving up inflation, as was the trend for the majority of the year, with an increase of 6.2 percent over 2016. The ‘Fuel and Lubricants’ subcategory was up by 5.7 percent, with all types of fuel recording increases during the month.

“The price per gallon of Premium gasoline rose 11.8 percent from $10.18 in December 2016 to $11.38 in the same month of 2017, while Regular gasoline rose 13 percent from $9.25 to $10.45, and the price per gallon of Diesel was up 8.8 percent from $8.84 to $9.62,” the SIB said.

The institute added that international airfare and local bus fare prices also helped drive up the category, reporting 33 percent and 4.5 percent increases respectively.

The ‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ category rose by 0.9 percent overall wile the ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ category saw little change overall, recording only a marginal increase of 0.1 percent when compared to December of 2016.

Inflation was highest in the months of February and March at 2.3 percent, and was at its lowest in June and August at 0.6 percent.

 

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