This morning, the Statistical Institute of Belize hosted a virtual press conference to discuss their preliminary reports on several economic indicators. Those figures include a look at the country's gross domestic product for the last quarter of 2020, last year's external trade, and the import and export figures for the first month of 2021.
We start first with the SIB's examination of gross domestic product for the 4th quarter of 2020. It continued to slide, pulled down by the weight of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic:
Jacqueline Sabal - Statistician II
"For the 4th quarter months of October to December 2020, Belize produced goods and services totaling 592.6 million dollars. This represents a decrease of 89.6 million dollars, or 13.1 percent when compared to the 4th quarter of 2019. Preliminary annual estimates for the year 2020 indicate that the goods and services produced totaled 2,475.1 million dollars. This represents a decrease of 14 percent from 2,880.9 million dollars produced in 2019. If we take a closer look at the annual GDP from 2015 to 2020, we observe a sharp decline in overall output in the year 2020, reflecting the severe economic effects of COVID-19. Now, if we assess what each sector contributes to the overall GDP, the sector whose movements make the most impact is the tertiary sector. Declines in contributions of the tertiary sector to the overall GDP are clearly observed over the past year. Now, looking at what each sector contributed in the 4th quarter of 2020 alone, the sector with the largest contribution was again the tertiary sector, which accounted for 61.4% of production. The secondary sector accounted for 15.9%, the primary sector 9.2%, and the remain 13.6% was in taxes. Looking specifically at the 4th quarter GDP, at constant prices over a 7-year period, the graph highlights fluctuations in the GDP from 2015 to 2019, followed by a significant 13.1% decline in production in the year 2020. During this period, production within the tertiary sector declined, overshadowing increase production in both the primary and the secondary sectors."
"Despite the opening of the international airport in October, activities within the hotels and restaurants sub-sector remained virtually non-existent compared to previous years. Cruise ship calls have not commenced since March of 2020, while overnight tourist arrivals have declined by 85.6% from approximately 120 thousand visitors in quarter 4 of 2019, to 17 thousand in 2020. And just to recap, for the 4th quarter of 2020, GDP decreased by 13.1%, compared to the same period of 2019. Production across the primary sector increased by 0.6%. The secondary sector grew by 22.5%, and the tertiary sector decreased by 18.8%."
