Higher fuel and food prices primary driver of inflation

The year-to-date inflation rate in Belize, for the first nine months of 2022, stood at 6.2 per cent relative to the corresponding period in 2021.

On a point-to-point basis, inflation as at September 2022 increased by 7.1 per cent. As in previous months this year, inflation was primarily driven by higher prices for motor vehicle fuels, several food items, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), restaurant services, and household cleaning products.

The ‘Transport’ category, with a year-to-date inflation rate of 19.1 per cent, was directly responsible for more than a half of the overall increase in consumer prices for the nine-month period. This was due to the fact that considerably higher costs were seen across all types of motor vehicle fuels, as well as new motor vehicles, and passenger transport services.

The prices for goods and services related to ‘Transport’ were up by 20 per cent when compared to September of last year and this category was the single largest driver of inflation for the month. ‘Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ had a year-to-date inflation rate of 6.7 per cent.

Notable increases in basic food items

The most notable increases in this category continued to be seen among various basic food items, such as cereal products, including rice, flour and bread. The price for meats, including poultry, beef, and pork; cooking oils; fresh produce, including watermelons, cilantro, habanero, and Irish potatoes; and dairy products, such as natural milk and eggs, all went up.

‘Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ recorded a 2.8 per cent year-to-date inflation rate, due to a 24.4 per cent rise in LPG prices and 14.4 per cent increase in construction materials for household use over the first nine months of the year. Higher prices for restaurant services resulted in a 5.2 per cent year-to-date inflation rate for the category of ‘Restaurant and Accommodation Services’.

Among the other categories, prices were notably higher for laundry products, soaps, detergents, and cinema entrance fees. The only category to record an overall decrease in prices for the period was ‘Information and Communication’, which declined by 0.8 per cent as a result of lower prices for internet provision services.