Consumer Price Index Indicates that Everything Di Go Up!!

Consumer prices for the month of March were up by almost six percent, as the cost of fuel, food and liquefied petroleum gas were most affected.  The Statistical Institute of Belize has issued the results of its Consumer Price Index survey which indicate that the country experienced an overall national inflation rate of five point seven percent on the cost of goods and services that are regularly purchased by Belizean consumers.  Comparing the average prices of selected foods and fuel are as follows: the price per pound of rice has increased by almost thirteen percent, from one dollar and thirty-seven cents per pound in March 2021 to one dollar and fifty-four cents per pound in 2022.  The cost per pound of pigtail has also increased by roughly seventy percent, from four dollars and forty-five cents to seven dollars and fifty-six cents per pound.  Elsewhere on the table, the cost per pound of tomato is up two dollars and fifty-six cents from one dollar and thirty-four cents around the same time last year.  That’s an increase of ninety-one point two percent.  Aside from the marked increase in the cost of fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, or L.P.G., has gone up to one hundred and forty-nine dollars from one hundred and eleven dollars in 2021.  That’s a thirty-four percent jump over a twelve-month period.