Overview: Guatemala

As a macroeconomic preamble, Guatemala is a developing country highly dependent on agricultural products, textile manufacturing, remittances sent by expats and a strong informal economy (which represents 22% of the overall GDP). The country enjoys a stable currency without drastic inflation, even with the COVID-19 crisis, the cumulative inflation rate is at 2.16% and has inflationary rhythm of 2.39%. This strong currency has had a negative impact on exports’ revenue, another extremely relevant economic sector.

Interestingly, on May 2020, Guatemala reported a 2.2% increase in exports compared to May 2019. Guatemala’s main export products are: i) textiles and apparel (10%); ii) cardamom (8.2%); iii) coffee (8.1%); iv) sugar (7.7%); and v) bananas (7.6%). These five products accrue for 41.6% of overall exports. On the import side, on May 2020 Guatemala reported a -9.5% decrease on imports compared to May 2019. This is mainly due to a -35% decrease on the imports of fuel and lubricants and a -17.3% decrease on consumer products. Although exports play a critical role, from 2018 to 2020 Guatemala has maintained a trade deficit of an averaged US$3,93bn. From a trade in services perspective, Guatemala’s balance of payments reflects an overall reversion of the trade deficit with a significant increase in the export of manufacturing services. However, this trade surplus rhythm went from 2013 until 2018 and was interrupted in 2019, when Guatemala reported a trade deficit of US$46.8m.