Significant Growth in Belize’s Economic Production

Moody’s Investors Service, or Moody’s, a bond credit rating company in the U.S., has upgraded Belize’s ratings following marked economic improvements in 2021 and 2022. According to Moody’s report, Belize’s rating was upgraded from Caa3 to Caa2. Now, this is still on the lower end of Moody’s rating scale. Notwithstanding the grade, the report highlights the fact that Belize’s economy has seen significant growth over the last two years, particularly where the country’s G.D.P. is concerned. Moody’s release notes that Belize saw economic growth of over sixteen percent in 2021, following a thirteen percent contraction in 2020. The company expects that Belize’s economy will grow a further six percent in 2022. And while those figures are already encouraging, Christopher Coye, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, says 2022’s G.D.P. growth will likely be closer to ten percent. News Five spoke with him via Zoom today about the state of Belize’s economy.

Christopher Coye

Christopher Coye, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance

“The government is running its finances in a responsible manner and there is an increase level to invest in the country. There is an increase level of confidents to come to Belize, so you see the tourism numbers picking back up significantly, so it is not just the numbers of how many people are coming to Belize, it is the level of expenditure. These are variables that make up the equation of what is the tourism expenditures. It is the number of people but it is also how much they spend and all indications are those tourists are spending more in Belize. So, that is certainly a very positive indicator. But, beyond that we can look at all the different key performance indicators if you will, for our country. The economy has grown. In 2020, it contracted over thirty percent. Now, in 2021 it grew over fifteen percent. Now, in 2022 the expectations were that there would be a significant slowdown and it would come back down to four percent, well the indications, I think Central Bank and IMF have acknowledge as much, the indications are that we will grow close to ten percent this year. So, Belize is one of the fastest growing jurisdictions in the entire region or western hemisphere. So, that will lead to ratings improvements, not only by Moody’s by other rating agencies.”