Belize

Reply to the United Nations national accounts questionnaire from the Central Planning Unit, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Belize. Official estimates are published in "National Accounts Statistics". Information on sources and methods of estimation are published in "National Accounts Statistics - Sources and Methods" and in "Economic Accounts of the Public Sector".

Unlike many of the small States making up the Caribbean group, Belize has a relatively large land-mass, with known physical resources capable of sustaining a much larger population if adequately exploited. Unfortunately, its small population and inadequate infrastructure have stunted its development.

The economy of Belize grew more moderately than the previous year, slowing from 9% to 4.2%. Activity was boosted by a significant increase in tourism, buoyancy in construction and manufacturing, and productivity gains in the primary sector, while basic and non-tourist services showed a less satisfactory performance.

In 2003 economic performance in Belize benefited from strong upturns in agriculture and tourism, the latter driven by a steep climb in the number of cruise-ship arrivals. The resulting growth rate of 4.4% was slightly higher than the 2003 rate, but did not translate into higher tax revenues. On the contrary, total income dropped significantly and this, combined with increased spending on external debt servicing, widened the fiscal deficit to almost three times the preceding year’s figure, from 3.7% of GDP in 2002 to 10.8% in 2003. This forced the authorities to seek external financing, thus increasing the country’s external debt stock.

The Belizean economy recovered from stagnation in 2009 to grow by 2.9% in 2010, a rate, which, within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), was only bested by that of Suriname (4.4%) and Guyana (3.6%). Activity was bolstered by a sharp rise in electricity generation and stronger growth in transport, communication and distributive trade. Tourism demand also improved owing to the nascent recovery in major markets. Despite the upturn in activity, inflation remained flat (0%) and higher employment was expected in recovering sectors. Notwithstanding the challenges presented by high debt levels and rising interest costs, the fiscal situation improved in 2010. Monetary policy sought to stimulate commercial bank lending to the private sector in order to facilitate the economic recovery. Meanwhile, robust growth in exports, combined with a modest rise in imports, led to a narrowing of the current account deficit by more than 50% as a percentage of GDP.