A country’s trade balance is a term used to refer to how much a country imports compared to how much it exports. Belize has always had a trade imbalance, because produce so little and import so much. But new figures released by the Statisitical Institute of Belize show a growing imbalance.
“In October 2013, Belize’s imports increased by 28 percent to an all-time high of $191.3 million.” SIB reports that there was increased import spending on all major categories of goods except Oils and Fats and Crude Materials.
During October, the greatest increases in import spending were on Mineral Fuels and Lubricants, and Food and Live Animals. Importation of Mineral Fuels and Lubricants rose by almost $10 million, more than half of which was due to an increase in the demand for diesel.
The US was the single largest source of imports, providing a little more than a third of the goods purchased during the month. Interestingly, Curacao overtook Mexico as the second largest import supplier – and that’s because the Petrocaribe fuel comes from there.
And while imports were up, Domestic exports of $42.9 million were down by 7 percent from the same period last year. Critically, Citrus and crude oil, meanwhile, trail last year’s sales by $30 million each.
