Belize Economy

Belize is an agricultural country.

Belize Economy
Currency	Belize Dollar (BZD)
Fiscal year	April 1 - March 31
International the organization	COP , WTO
Statistics
GDP	$ 1.770 billion (face value 2016) $ 3.088 billion (PPP 2016)
Place by GDP	169th (face value 2016) 167th (faculty 2016)
GDP growth	-1.2% (Q4 2016) [1]
GDP per capita	$ 8,186 (2016)
GDP by sector	Agrocomplex (13%), Production (23%), Services (64%) (2012)
Inflation ( CPI )	2.3% (2017) [1]
Population below the poverty line	41.3% (2009) [1]
Economically active population	139,456 (2012) [2] note: lack of qualified technical personnel in the production sector.
Employed population by sector	Agricultural complex (10.2%), Production (18.1%), Services (71.7%) (2007)
Unemployment rate	11.1% (2016) [1]
Major industries	Clothing, food industry, tourism, construction, oil
EDBI	112th place (2017) [3]
International trade
Export	$ 633 million (2013)
Export Articles	Sugar, bananas, citrus fruits, clothes, fish, molasses, wood, crude oil
Export partners	30.8% 18.7% 6.7% 4.8% 4.2% 4.2% (2015) [4]
Import Articles	Equipment and transport equipment, manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, beverages, tobacco
Import partners	26.6% 11.7% 10.2% 9% 7.5% 5.6% (2015) [5]
gross external debt	$ 1,048 billion (December 2013)
Public finance
State debt	$ 1.229 billion (2013)
Government revenue	$ 410.1 million (2013)
Government spending	$ 352.4 million (2013)
Credit rating	CC (Internal) CC (External) CC (T&C) ( Standard & Poor's ) [6]

Agriculture employs 10.2% of the workforce (2007), it accounts for 13% of GDP (2012), in industry - 18.1% and 23%, respectively. More than a third of the population lives below the poverty line, and expenditures far exceed incomes. For a long time, the economy of Belize depended on the prices of exported goods. It was mainly raw wood. Then the economy was somewhat diversified, and now the share of sugar, bananas and citrus fruits gives up to half of export earnings. By the end of the 1970s, self-sufficiency in rice was achieved. The share of industrial goods increased - mainly clothes and woodworking products.

Agricultural Sector

Farmland occupy approx. 7% of the territory (2011), including arable land - 3.4%, which is 265 thousand acres , of which 146 thousand acres are used in agriculture, 119 thousand are used in animal husbandry ^[7]

The main crops are sugarcane (gross harvest of 1.2 million tons, 2014; mainly in the north and north-west of the country - in the Korosal and Orange-Walk districts), citrus fruits (168 thousand tons of oranges, about 40 thousand tons of grapefruits; mainly in the central part of the country - in the districts of Stann Creek and Cayo) and bananas (70 thousand tons); new export crops - papaya (12 thousand tons), pineapples, mangoes, cayenne pepper. For domestic consumption, corn is grown (71.4 thousand tons, 2014), rice (15.8 thousand tons; in the Belize river valley), legumes (including beans 6.7 thousand tons, partially exported), potatoes (1.1 thousand tons), cassava (0.9 thousand tons), yams and vegetables. Cattle are bred (94.9 thousand animals, 2014), pigs (22.5 thousand animals), sheep (13.1 thousand animals), horses (5.8 thousand animals) and poultry. Catching fish and seafood in coastal waters; industrial shrimp farming (St. 7.5 thousand tons per year, mainly for export)

Timber Removal for the 1990s decreased by 15 times and is approx. 35 thousand cubic meters m. Industrial shrimp farming, production since the 1990s has increased by more than 13 times and reached 3 thousand tons.

Industry

Electricity production 452 million kWh (2011); of which 48.8% - at 6 small TPPs, 30.5% - at the Chalillo HPP on the river. Makal (Cayo County), 20.7% at the Tower Hill Sugar Power Station (Orange Walk County), which uses biomass (sugarcane processing waste). Leading industries: food flavoring (90% of the value of industrial products), textile and woodworking. Enterprises producing sugar (in Tower Hill and Orange Walk, both Orange County), alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, citrus concentrates (Dangriga city), textile products (from imported fabrics; in the export-industrial zone in the region Belize, 1992), lumber.

Insignificant oil production of 150 thousand tons (2014)

Transport and Communications

The length of roads is 2.9 thousand km, with a hard surface - 651 km, 805 km of local roads are used only in the dry season. Automobile fleet - 22 thousand units. The largest ports are Belize City, Big Creek and Commerce Byte. The navy has a st. 4 thousand ships, of which 95% are foreign, registered under the Belizean flag. Large ships with a displacement of st. 1 thousand tons - 315 with a total carrying capacity of 1.8 million tons. The length of the inland waterways available for small vessels is 825 km. 44 aerodromes, 4 of them with hard surface. International Airport F. Goldson annually serves 350 thousand passengers. ^[eight]

Telephone communication is provided by BEL with a predominance of English capital. For 1000 inhabitants there are 305 devices and 135 personal computers (2001). As of 2014, Belize is 137th in terms of Internet development ^[9] , for a total of approx. 25% of the population has access to the Global Network.

Financial Sector

Belize is one of the main places in Central America for offshore companies. The country offers many tax advantages for both business and individuals wishing to open an offshore Belize ^[10]

There are several large commercial banks in Belize that offer a full range of domestic and offshore services. The local currency is the Belize dollar , which is pegged to the US dollar at the exchange rate of BZ $ 2.00 = 1.00 US dollars. In Belize, there is no exchange control in the field of offshore business and banking. As a former British colony, Belize’s law derives from general UK law, supplemented by local law. The judicial system is also similar to the English judicial system.

Foreign Trade

In 2016, the volume of foreign trade amounted to: export of $ 439 million, import of $ 1.08 billion, negative balance of foreign trade of $ 638 million ^[11]

The main export products: sugar 29% ($ 128 million), bananas 11% ($ 47.4 million), fruit juices 11% ($ 46.4 million), tobacco raw materials 5.5% ($ 24.2 million), shrimp and so on. crustaceans 4.2% ($ 18.3 million). Crude oil share approx. 2.6%. Main buyers: Burma 24% ($ 106 million), the United States 20% ($ 86.3 million), the UK 17% ($ 74 million), Spain 3.4% ($ 14.8 million) and Jamaica 3.3% ($ 14.5 million)

The main imported goods: petroleum products, cigarettes and cigars, machinery and equipment, including vehicles, chemicals, consumer goods. Major suppliers: US 33% ($ 357 million), Mexico 12% ($ 125 million), China 11% ($ 117 million), Guatemala 7.5% ($ 81.1 million) and Curacao 6.1% ($ 66 5 million)

Tourism

Foreign tourism provides St. 30% of GDP; approx. approx. 10% of the economically active population, indirectly the tourism business creates up to 1/3 of jobs. In 2012, 918 thousand foreign tourists visited Belize (including 585 thousand from the United States), of which 641 thousand were cruise tourists. The largest tourist center is the city of San Pedro (Belize district). The main types of tourism: cruise (liners are accepted by the seaport of Belize), beach (peninsula of Plasencia, Belize; islands), sports (diving and snorkeling in the Barrier Reef), ecological (national parks, waterfalls. Exotic animals and plants) and cultural and educational (ruins of Mayan settlements, Garifuna settlements and caves). ^[12]

The Belize tourism industry is booming. During the 15 months from June 2015 to September 2016, the country was visited by a record number of tourists, their number grew by 33 percent. And this upward trend continues. There is also an increase in the number of tourists arriving by cruise liners. The launch of direct flights between Toronto (Canada) and Belize provides grounds for predicting an increase in the flow of Canadian tourists. In Belize, there are unique temples and palaces of the great Mayan civilization. Their descendants still live in Belize. The largest Mayan centers that have survived to this day are in Shunantunich (on the border with Guatemala), Atun-Ha, Karakol, Quayo, Lamanay. In the village of Kahal Pech, you can see the "false arches" of the Mayans. Belize has the world's only jaguar reserve, numerous parks. Also, great beaches and diving sites ^[13]