Business Establishment Survey Finds Business Are Not Making Money

Jefte Ochaeta

The last Business Establishment Survey conducted by the Statistical Institute of Belize was done ten years ago. This past May some four thousand one hundred businesses were polled about their location, plans, development and business models. The full statistics will be issued later this year but from the preliminary reports, businesses operating in the primary and secondary industries are reporting less revenue. Statistician Jefte Ochaeta has the details.

Jefte Ochaeta, Statistician I, Statistical Institute of Belize

“About fourteen percent of agricultural businesses make above five hundred thousand dollars. Manufacturing, we see that a lot – about fifty-six percent of manufacturing businesses which told us that they make less than twenty-five thousand dollars. Also we can see that construction activities – companies that are engaging in construction activities, are making – about ninety percent of construction companies claim to be making about a million dollars per year with respect to the year 2014. When we take into consideration the same distribution by the service industries, we see that the wholesale and retail activities, which is the orange line, about eighty percent of business engaged in wholesale and retail activities, claim to be making less than seventy-five thousand dollars.”

The spread of businesses, according to the S.I.B.’s findings, mirrors the distribution of the population, with the Belize and Cayo districts carrying the majority of businesses and lesser amounts in the North and South.