Belize’s GDP Growth Slows to 2.6% in Q2 2023, Prime Minister Addresses Concerns

According to the SIB, the GDP growth for the second quarter of 2023 was 2.6%, the lowest since 2018. The economic growth was a decrease when compared to the first quarter and the same period last year. Prime Minister John Briceno says that while the economy is slowing down, the country continues to perform well despite taking several hits in the agriculture sector. Today, he explained how the government is working to ensure the country remains on an upward trend.

Hon. John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “It would be difficult for us to be able to keep 15% and 12% growth. This was forecasted that it was going to slow down. Our first quarter we had about 12% and now the second quarter – and a lot of it if you look at it is the agricultural commodities are not doing well. Citrus is at its lowest and as it is right now the Ministry of Agriculture working with the CPBL and the Citrus Growers Association trying to come up with a plan to be able to revive that. Shrimp is finally starting to come out of its doldrums of the challenges of the early mortality syndrome. Bananas Sigatoka disease that has been affecting them for the past year or so again it’s starting to go up so we were expecting some of this but as a government now I’m just planning a meeting on Friday with just a small group to see what are the things we need to do to be able to continue to have growth. Our target is to have a minimum of 5% growth of GDP per year and so now we need to look at what are the sectors that need some kind of help and what kind of help we can give to ensure that we can continue that growth that Belize has been since we got into government in November of 2020.”