Prime Minister John Briceño visited the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB), where he received a comprehensive update on the country’s data and statistical progress.
The Prime Minister was welcomed by SIB Director-General Diana Castillo and her management team. He was joined by Minister of State in the Ministry of Economic Transformation, Dr. Osmond Martinez, along with CEO Carlos Pol, Senior Investment and E-Governance Officer Ian Courtney, and Prime Ministerial Aide Vaughn Gill.
During the visit, SIB officials briefed the Prime Minister on key initiatives, including new efforts to measure poverty, trade in services, producer prices, and ocean-related economic activity. They also discussed plans for the upcoming 2025–2026 Household Budget Survey and ongoing projects such as the KOICA-funded initiative to strengthen Belize’s national statistical system.
The Prime Minister was also updated on recent achievements like the rebasing of GDP, adoption of new labour statistics standards, and the development of new data tools such as the Multidimensional Poverty Index and food insecurity estimates.
Belize’s rising performance in global data rankings was also highlighted. The country has improved in both the World Bank’s Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI) and the Open Data Inventory (ODIN), reflecting the SIB’s push for better data access and transparency.
The visit ended with a tour of SIB’s departments, where the Prime Minister got a firsthand look at innovations in data collection, processing, and dissemination.