by Kristen Ku

BELIZE CITY, Wed. Mar. 27, 2024

A new report from the Statistical Institute of Belize shows a sharp rise in imports compared with a decline in domestic exports for February 2024.

Imports soared by 13.7%, totaling $227.5 million, while exports declined by 8.1%, reaching just $20.7 million.

The import increase was led by significant growth in the ‘Machinery and Transport Equipment’ category, which almost doubled from $34.9 million in February 2023 to $53.7 million in February 2024.

The ‘Mineral Fuels and Lubricants’ category also saw a rise by $12.9 million due to increased purchases of premium fuel, despite no recorded imports of premium fuel in February of the previous year.

The ‘Other Manufactures’ saw an increase in imports of printed materials and gaming machines, from $15.1 million in February of last year to $21 million in February of this year.

Additionally, both the ‘Chemical Products’ and ‘Manufactured Goods’ saw an increase of $1.7 million and $1.2 million, respectively.

Conversely, the export of ‘Animal Feed’ saw a substantial decrease by $3.3 million, attributed to less demand for animal feed, while ‘Sugar’ export experienced a decline of $2.1 million.

Reduced exports of citrus products were also seen, falling from $3.2 million to $1.1 million.

The largest market for Belize’s domestic exports remains the United States, accounting for $3.7 million.

For the first two months of 2024, merchandise exports accumulated to $37.5 million, marking a notable decrease of $9.6 million from $47.1 million in the corresponding period of 2023.