Belize: Poverty and Economic Sector Performance

Author
Devoto, Florencia
Date
Mar 2006
This study was part of the analytic work carried out in preparation for the Bank's Strategy with Belize in 2004. The objective of this document is to examine the relationship between economic performance and poverty. In order to do so, it explores the determinants of changes in poverty during the 90s, and particularly how this relationship holds for those sectors that led economic growth. More specifically, it looks at the relationship between the sector in which vulnerable people work and the economic sectors that led either the recovery or the slow down of the economy, after controlling for other relevant demographic and socioeconomic factors. The main conclusions of the paper are that given the poverty characteristics and market conditions of the country, poverty alleviation policies need to address both issues, reducing vulnerability to external shocks and augmenting the assets of the extremely poor.