Food Prices Surge Over 10%: SIB Report Highlights Soaring Inflation

Food prices were up more than ten percent at the end of last year. That’s the latest report coming from the Statistical Institute of Belize. The SIB’s Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, says that the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Category was up by twelve-point four percent when compared to 2022. The total increase was attributed to higher prices of all types of food products. At the last conference of the SIB, Director General Diana Trejo noted that food prices had been trending upward for several years, but that the situation was made worse by the 2020 pandemic. 

Belizeans also paid, on average, over twelve percent more for restaurant and accommodation services as well as six and a half percent more in the recreation, sport, and culture category. Increased prices for medications drove the health category up by just under five percent.