Inflation up Thanks to Higher Fuel and House Rent Prices

Angelita Campbell

Rises in fuel and house rent prices are behind the average rise in the consumer price index, commonly known as inflation. Prices are up one percent from last July and point six percent through the first seven months of the year, according to statistician Angelita Campbell.

Angelita Campbell, Statistician II, Statistical Institute of Belize

“The Housing, Water, Gas and Other Fuels actually going up by one point seven percent; then we have the food and non-alcoholic beverages slightly decreasing by zero point two percent; transport also going down, narrowly, by zero point one percent, we have all other categories of goods and services going up by one point five percent. When we look closely at the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, we see rent prices actually going up by roughly two point five percent; but that was offset by the electricity tariff which went down by fifteen percent, and we have the price of butane in that category also decreasing by roughly eight percent. In the food and non-alcoholic beverages category, we saw a variation in terms of prices across the board, some of which, like beef, went up by roughly five percent; we had vegetables and fruits going up, we had sugar also increasing in that category. However we saw red kidney beans going down by eleven percent, as we have been seeing since the start of the year; chicken went down by zero point seven percent and we also saw a decrease in eggs, roughly fifteen percent.”

By municipality, rates rose between zero point two and two percent. Belize continues to outperform most of the region.