North America Edition
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Yesterday, non-profit private sector foundation Fundesa warned that evidence of a dynamic growth in Guatemala’s economy is tempered by a resurgence in the worldwide oil price.
The positive trend in the country’s economic activity -that began in September- is attributed to trade, industry, agriculture, telecommunications and water and electricity provision. Increased remittances that hit a record US$11.3bn in 2020 have offset drops in industries such as tourism and are projected to continue to rise. In January, Guatemala received US$907 million, a 9% increase year-on-year.
Non-traditional products drove exports to US$8.02bn, an increase of 4% on 2019. The main increases were in cardamom, fruit and vegetables, other food products and chemicals. More traditional products such as coffee, sugar and bananas saw a decline in exports.
Bnamericas.com quoted Fundesa associate investigator Fernando Spross as saying: “Agricultural products continue to be the highest volume of exports. Bananas US$822 million, cardamom almost US$800 million, coffee and sugar followed by other products like fruits which earned US$534 million. This does not take into account the exports from free trade zones and maquillas [assembly plants].”
Total exports including those from free trade zones and assembly plants were US$11.56bn, up 3.5% on 2019. Clothing was the largest export, followed by cardamom, coffee and bananas.
Photo source: Dreamstime.com
