The Statistical Institute of Belize’s (SIB) preliminary fourth quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates showed that, during the months of October to December 2020, the overall level of production for the country of Belize declined by 13.1% in comparison to the same three months in 2019. The total value of goods and services produced within the country for this period stood at $592.6 million, down $89.6 million from $682.2 million produced in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The services sector remained the most severely impacted by COVID-19, decreasing by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Despite the reopening of the international airport to international travelers in October of 2020, only a marginal number of tourist arrivals were recorded. Additionally, significant decreases were seen in the ‘Wholesale and Retail Trade’ and ‘Transport, Storage and Communication’ industries as well as in ‘Taxes on Products’. On the other hand, the primary sector increased by 0.6%, attributed to growth within agricultural industries, while the secondary sector expanded by 22.5%, mainly due to a rise in the ‘Electricity and Water’ industry.
In summation, preliminary annual estimates for 2020 indicate that the economy contracted by 14 percent during the year, with the total value of goods and services produced in the country falling from $2,880.9 million in 2019 to $2,475.1 million in 2020. Throughout most of the year, the country suffered the devastating economic effects of COVID-19, which hit the tertiary sector particularly hard and greatly overshadowed growth experienced in the primary and secondary sectors during the second half of the year, as the country began to recover from the prolonged dry weather conditions of 2019. International travel resumed in October 2020; however, tourist arrival numbers, which had dwindled to near zero for much of the year, remained extremely low. During the second quarter of 2020, the largest quarterly GDP decline to date was recorded, as the economy contracted by 23%, mainly due to decreases within the services sector. This rapid decline in tertiary activities was also evident in a reduction in the sector’s relative contribution to total GDP for the year, when compared to previous years.
