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Latin American Grupo Taca Airlines from gateways in Dallas, Houston,
Miami, and San Salvador.
Industry, Investment, and Trade
A number of manufactured or produced goods come from Belize: metal
doors and windows, furniture, concrete blocks, bricks, clothing, boats, beer,
cigarettes, flour, animal feed, wire and paper products, agricultural
fertilizer, matches, plywood and other wood products, meat packing, food
processing, and rolled steel bars for the construction industry.
Even so, tourism attracts most foreign investors, who build hotels and
resorts, although investors from the United States have also become
Careful Land Use Strengthens the Economy
29
Gross Domestic Product (GDP):
$3.083 billion
GDP per capita:
$8,800
Natural resources:
farmland, timber,
seafood, hydropower.
Industry (23 percent of GDP*):
garment pro-
duction, food processing, tourism, con-
struction, oil.
Agriculture (13 percent of GDP):
bananas,
cacao, citrus, sugar; fish, cultured
shrimp; lumber.
Services (64 percent of GDP):
tourism, other.
Annual Exports:
$633 million—sugar,
bananas, citrus, clothing, fish products,
molasses, wood, crude oil
Annual Imports:
$864 million—machinery
and transport equipment, manufac-
tured goods; fuels, chemicals, pharma-
ceuticals; food, beverages, tobacco.
Unemployment rate:
15.5 percent.
Economic growth rate:
2.5 percent
Currency exchange rate (2015):
1.95
Belizean dollars = U.S. $1 (fixed rate)
* GDP or gross domestic product—the total value of goods and services produced in a year.
Sources: CIA World Factbook 2014; Bloomberg.com. All figures 2014 estimates, unless otherwise noted.
Quick Facts: The Economy of Belize