G.D.P. Up by 3% Between July and September 2023

The Statistical Institute of Belize held its final press conference for 2023 this morning, here in Belize City.  There’s a lot that was shared in respect of Belize’s economic performance over the last quarter, including the G.D.P. for the third quarter.  The gross domestic product for the period July to September stood a little over one billion dollars, three point three percent up from the same period last year.  Here is S.I.B.’s Christopher Hulse with a breakdown of those figures.

Christopher Hulse

Christopher Hulse, Statistician II, S.I.B.

“So for July to September 2023, goods and services produce totaled $1.19 billion, an increase of forty million or 3.34% when we compare that to the third quarter of 2022.  The primary drivers of this economic growth were in the tertiary sector and then in the secondary sector we saw an increase of construction.  At the bottom, it’s always nice to observe patterns and trends, so we’re looking at from the first quarter of 2018 to the third quarter of 2023, this is our growth rate for GDP, and aside from 2020, you would note that there’s a certain seasonality to the growth rate throughout the quarters.  Third quarter is where we usually see the dip, matching with the off-seasons for agriculture. Looking at how that $1.19 billion is being shared across the three sectors and taxes, we look at primary which is approximately five percent of the GDP.  That is $65.2 million out of the $1.19 billion.  Then secondary is about fourteen percent which is $164.3 million out of the $1.19 billion; and then tertiary, basically two-thirds of the economy right now, $784.7 million dollars out of the $1.19 billion is accounted from tertiary.  And then we have taxes contributing $185.6 million and that is about fifteen percent.  So this is just how that $1.19 billion is shared across the sectors.”