I.M.F: Belize Has Rebounded Strongly from COVID Pandemic

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund has concluded a consultation with Belize on its economic performance since the COVID pandemic and has issued a detailed report. The I.M.F. reports that the country’s economic activity has rebounded strongly from the pandemic. In a press release issued today, the I.M.F. reported that after Belize’s economy contracted by thirteen point four percent in 2020, real G.D.P. expanded by fifteen point two percent in 2021, and twelve point one percent in 2022. It attributed these growth achievements to retail and wholesale trade, tourism, and business process outsourcing. But the I.M.F. projected Belize’s real G.D.P. growth to slow to two point four percent this year and two percent over the medium term, as tourism returns to pre-pandemic levels. In terms of the inflation rate, that increased from near zero in 2020 to three point two percent in 2021, but it ballooned to six point three percent last year. The silver lining in all this, by the I.M.F.’s projection, is that the rate of inflation is expected to fall to four point one percent this year and one point two percent over the medium term. The I.M.F. team encouraged the government on its continued fiscal management to further reduce public debt and called for measures to enhance revenue streams, a reprioritization of expenditures and increased priority spending on infrastructure, targeted social programs, and crime prevention.