Cost of Living Still Driven By Global Inflation?

We also asked Pott, who works at an organization that represents the business sector, to shed light on what is driving the cost of living so high in recent months. While he said there could be several factors, he alluded to the cost of goods internationally.

 

Joshua Pott, Chief Policy Analyst, B.C.C.I.

“We’re encouraged to see that the Statistical Institute of Belize is reporting that inflation rates, at least per month, is lower than what it was a couple months ago, or a couple years ago. But prices are still going up on the shelves, and when you look at inflation as a broader topic you’ll find that it’s being influenced by a variety of factors. So it’s very difficult to pinpoint what are the largest contributors of inflation, but we can point to the usual suspects being the cost of acquisition for the goods that we import. We import a large quantity of the goods that we consume, especially groceries. So really the prices that we see on the shelf tend to be dictated by how much those goods are being acquired for, from the manufacturers or from the primary wholesalers.”