Nationwide Price Increases Push Inflation Up
Punta Gorda has seen the highest inflation rate for the first quarter of the year across all municipalities in Belize. Based on the Statistical Institute of Belize’s latest data, PG is followed closely by San Ignacio and Benque Viejo. Notably, every municipality has recorded price increases over the first five months of the year, pushing the national inflation rate to two percent. Manager in the Economic Statistics Department, Jacqueline Sabal, explained how SIB collects its data.
Jacqueline Sabal
Jacqueline Sabal, Manager, Economic Statistics Department, SIB
“In terms of how data collection is done in each municipality, we do the consumer price index survey every month and we collect prices across the country. In terms of which outlet we chose, if that is where you are going with the question, in terms of which outlet we choose to survey, this is based on our household budget that we survey and administer. The CPI is highly dependent on our HBS survey, that determines what our basket is, what products we will collect prices on and where we collect the prices on. We have to be guided by what consumers say they spend on and where they say they buy these items. When it comes to whether prices are higher in different areas, that is also why the inflation rate is an average. So it might not be specific to what you are seeing a store you are going to, the price might not be exact to that amount. But we do take an average of the overall.”
Belize’s Export Industry Struggles Out the Gate in 2026
Belize’s export sector is off to a rough start in 2026, posting one of its weakest first-quarter performances in a decade. New figures from the Statistical Institute of Belize show earnings barely crossing one hundred and forty million dollars, falling even below levels seen during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, what’s behind this sharp decline? We went looking for answers.
Diana Castillo-Trejo
Diana Castillo-Trejo, Director General, S.I.B.
“It is true that compared to the first five months in many of those years, what we see in the first five months of this year is lower. There are a couple of things. We do acknowledge that some of our agricultural industries have had their struggles. So that could be a factor there. But there is also the issue of the timing of our exports. So, for things like sugar, we don’t ship out bulk sugar every month and from one year to the next, the month in which those shipments are made, it can vary. So that is a part of it also. This is why we present the year to date at every press conference, because we want to see how the entire year is progressing. But it is likely that as we go into the other months, sugar, which is our biggest foreign exchange earner out of the physical goods we export, will be large shipments of those, then that will help those numbers to pick up a bit.”
Exports are expected to pick up steadily as the year progresses.
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.