For the ninth consecutive month, imports declined with total expenditure amounting to $119.1mn, an 11.8% fall off when compared to the same month of 2008. On the other hand, for the second month, domestic export earnings continued its upward trend growing by 8.5% over the same period of 2008.

The 2010 Population & Housing Census shows that Mestizo is the largest ethnic group, with its share of the total population edging up from 49% to 50%. Creole accounted for 21%, down from 25%. Maya and Garifuna made up 10% and 4.6% respectively.

After out-performing many countries in 2008 and growing by 3.6 percent, the Belizean economy could no longer stave off the effects from the global downturn and contracted for the first two quarters in 2009.

Belize’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for February 2011 shows that overall consumer prices rose by 1.1% from November of the previous year. This rise, which follows a zero percent change between August and November 2010, was due largely to price increases in the “Transportation & Communication” and “Rent, Water, Fuel and Power” categories.