Corozal District

Corozal District occupies Belize's edge with Mexico—a boundary that creates both opportunity and vulnerability. The northernmost district shares the sugar-producing characteristics of neighboring Orange Walk while adding cross-border trade dynamics. The flat terrain suits cane cultivation; the proximity to Chetumal (Mexico) provides market access and smuggling risk in equal measure.

The district exemplifies edge effects in small-country economics. Sugar provides the agricultural base, but the Mexican border offers informal sector opportunities that GDP statistics can't capture. When official unemployment sits at 2.1% (2024) while informal employment reaches 35.6% nationally, border districts like Corozal host a disproportionate share of that shadow economy. The legal economy measures sugar exports; the actual economy includes everything that crosses that border.

Corozal's comparative advantage is specific: northern location, Mexican proximity, sugar-friendly soil. But these advantages created dependency on a single crop vulnerable to disease and price fluctuations. When the 2024 primary sector declined 5.5% from adverse weather and disease, districts dependent on agriculture bore the cost. The ambergris caye tourism boom (San Pedro) technically falls within Corozal but operates in a different economic universe than the sugar fields on the mainland.