Statistical Institute of Belize: Belizeans paid an average of 30 cents more for goods and services in 2018

Published by BBN Staff at January 31, 2019

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Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2019. 8:20 am CST.

BBN Staff: The Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) has released its latest batch of statistics, representing the final set of data for 2018.

On January 30, the SIB issued the Consumer Price Index and External Trade Bulletin for the period December 2018 which also contained the year’s average for both reports.

The data showed that for the year 2018, Belizeans paid an average of 30 cents more for goods and services, while for the month of December specifically, consumer prices were about 10 cents less when compared to the year before.

Two of the major drivers that kept consumer prices high throughout the year were the cost of fuel, that didn’t see much decrease until the end of 2018, and the cost of house rent. The cost of Butane also remained relatively high throughout the entirety of 2018.

While imports fluctuated from month to month, the total value of imports for the year 2018 amounted to $1.9 billion, representing a 4.6 percent or $83.7 million increase when compared to 2017.

For the month of December 2018, Belize imported goods valuing $152.8 million, which represented an 8.6 percent or $14.4 million decline from the same month in 2017 when imports were valued at $167.2 million.

Exports had a turbulent year for 2018, recording more losses than gains for the majority of 2018. The total value of exports for the year 2018 totaled $398.7 million, down 10.5 percent or $46.9 million from total exports of 2017, which amounted to $445.6 million. For the month of December, however, the total value of Belize’s domestic exports for the month of December 2018 was $22.2 million, which was a 41.7 percent or $6.5 million from the $15.7 million recorded for December 2017.

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