PM Briceño on Inflation and Price Gouging  

During his State of the Nation address, Prime Minister John Briceño, said, “Inflation is down, falling from 6.3% in 2022 to 3.8% in 2024.” However, when News 5 asked Belize City residents, we got a different answer.  One resident said, “I don’t know where this come down because I see the price of basic things gone up,” and another said, “We deh out ya and we di see the economy, exactly what di happen. Tell and talk the truth to the people mek the people know because wi do have inflation da Belize and deh have it da America.”

A third city resident we spoke with said, “Cost ah living can’t goh down when every week nearly everything di goh up. Every other two weeks everything di nearly double the price.”

When we asked for his response to  the statements of some Belize City residents, PM Briceño told News 5, “I understand what you’re saying. The prices indeed have gone up from 2020,  but when you look at the rate of inflation, you compare it to the previous year. Not to 2020. So last year the inflation rate was over 4% and now it’s down to about 3%, but 3% of last year, not of 2020. So yes, the price are still high and we hoping that with time and competition that the prices are going to come down even more.”

As for price gouging, the PM said, “It exists and wherever we find that, we try to act as best as we possibly can.”