Country Trade Brief - Belize

Country Briefing: Belize
By Uzochukwu Uchechukwu ALUTU (Reg.No. 201461623)




TRADE AND COUNTRY PROFILE
Country name: Belize
Country facts

Capital: Belmopan
Population: 324,000 people (2012)
Landmass: 22,965 sq. km3
Gross Domestic Product: US $ 1, 448, 000 (2011)4
Income per capita: US $ 4, 636 (2011)
Growth rate: 2% (2005 – 2011)4

International trade profile4

Trade per capita: US $ 5768 (2010 – 2011)
Trade to GDP Ratio: US $ 117.6 (2009 – 2011)
Export growth: 2% (2005 – 2011)
Import growth: 4% (2005 – 2011)
World ranking in exports: 160
World ranking in imports: 173
Principal exports: Agricultural Products (61.6%); Fuels and
mining products (23.9%); Manufactures
(1.81%)
Principal imports: Agricultural Products (14.7%); Fuels and
mining products (16.7%); Manufactures
(44.3%)
Trading partners4

Main export destinations: United States (46.3%); European Union 27 (34.3%);
Trinadad and Tobago (4.8%); Jamaica (3.9%);
Japan (3.6%)
Main import origins: United States (29.3%); Curaçao
(14.1%); China (12.5%); Mexico (10.5%); Guatemala (6.6%)

Trade Policy4

WTO date of accession: 1 January 1995
Contribution to WTO budget (2014): 0.015%
Trade Policy Review: 3,5 November 2010
Tariff profile: high tariffs
Bound Applied
All goods 58.2 % 10.7 %
Agricultural goods 101.1 % 20.5 %
Non-agricultural goods 51.5 % 9.3 %
Membership of negotiating groups: African Caribbean and Pacific countries with preferences in the
EU (ACP); G-90; G-33 ("Friends of Special Products" in
agriculture); "W52" sponsors

Membership of preferential trading agreement (PTA)

Belize PTA's are mainly Generalized System of Preferences (GSPs) with Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, Switzerland, Turkey, and United States.

Others: Belize shares a number of PTAs with other Caribbean countries and the EU. These include; Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, Commonwealth Caribbean Countries Tariff (CCCT), Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), EU – CARIFORUM States EPA.
Structure of PTAs: Most of the PTAs have their providers with Belize mainly a beneficiary.
Analysis of Belize's negotiating position
Though a small economy, being a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Belize has sought specific provisions for special and differential treatment for developing countries and the recognition of the special status and needs of small, vulnerable, developing economies. Substantial volume of Belize's exports is traded under preferential agreements and its trade policy is influenced by participation in the CARICOM. Regional cooperation in negotiations gives greater weight to Belize's position and provides a useful level to its scarce labour resource (small population). Given its geographical position, Belize has also taken steps to work more closely with its Central American neighbours and with Mexico. Albeit, Belize is still faced with the burden of negotiating and administering a growing number of preferential agreements because of its limited institutional capacity to take part in negotiations and observe the commitments undertaken.


DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS


Pol icy B rief


Being an assignment submitted to the Department of Economics, School of Business, University of Strathclyde in partial fulfillment of the requirement of International Trade and Policy (EC 925) for the award of M.Sc. in Applied Economics (2014/2015). October 2014.
Belize is a country in Central America bordering the Caribbean Sea
Source: British Broadcasting Cooperation (BBC) – Country Profile http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18724591
Source: World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Profiles 2013 http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/trade_profiles13_e.pdf
Source: United Nations World Statistics Pocketbook (2013) http://unstats.un.org/unsd/pocketbook/World_Statistics_Pocketbook_2013_edition.pdf
Source: World Trade Organization (WTO) Website http://ptadb.wto.org//Country.aspx?code=084
http://www.sice.oas.org/ctyindex/BLZ/WTO/ENGLISH/WTTPRS134_2_e.doc. See also: http://www.actrav.itcilo.org/actrav-english/telearn/global/ilo/blokit/caricom.htm

Pie Charts are Own Computations and Data was sourced from Observatory of Economic Complexity Website http://atlas.media.mit.edu/profile/country/blz/