Rising inflation in the Caribbean Netherlands
In Q4 2021, consumer goods and services on Bonaire were 5.7 percent more expensive than one year previously. The inflation rate was still 4.3 percent in Q3. Year-on-year, the price of electricity rose by 31.1 percent and the price of water by 6.7 percent. The price of petrol was 26.6 percent up on Q4 2020. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) based on the consumer price index for the Caribbean Netherlands.
On St Eustatius, prices were up by 2.5 percent year-on-year. This was still 2.4 percent in Q3. On Saba, the inflation rate rose from 3.2 to 3.7 percent in Q4. This was mainly attributable to rapidly rising prices of petrol as well as products for maintenance and repair of dwellings. Petrol on Saba was 27.6 percent more expensive than one year previously.
Prices on Bonaire 1.8 percent up on the previous quarter
Relative to Q3 2021, prices rose by 1.8 percent on Bonaire in Q4. This was mainly due to the discontinuation of the utility allowances as of December 2021, which resulted in an increase of 9.2 percent for electricity and 5.6 percent for water. The costs of transport also rose, by 2.0 percent. Petrol went up by 6.2 percent and diesel by 6.7 percent relative to the previous quarter. Prices of clothing and footwear fell by 3.1 percent.
0.6-percent price increase on Statia relative to the previous quarter
On St Eustatius, in Q4 2021 consumer prices rose by 0.6 percent relative to Q3, when prices were up by 1.6 percent. Education had a downward effect on the index with a drop of 8.2 percent, due to price reductions of various online courses. Petrol rose 3.7 percent in price and diesel 3.8 percent relative to Q3 2021. Clothing and footwear fell by 3.5 percent.
Saba recorded 0.6-percent price increase on Q3
In Q4 2021, consumers on Saba paid on average 0.6 percent more for goods and services than in the previous quarter. In Q3, the increase was still 1.7 percent. Transport became 1.3 percent more expensive relative to Q3, due to increased prices of petrol and diesel. Housing rose by 1.2 percent due to increased prices of building materials. With a decline of 3.8 percent, education had a dampening effect on inflation as various online courses dropped in price. Prices of clothing and footwear fell by 3.5 percent.
Provisional figures
Figures over Q4 2021 are provisional and will become definitive upon publication of the figures over Q1 2022.
Papiamentu
A Papiamentu translation of this news release can be obtained from Statistics Netherlands’ office on Bonaire by sending a request via email to: caribischnederland@cbs.nl
Sources:
StatLine: Caribbean Netherlands https://opendata.cbs.nl/#/CBS/en/dataset/84046ENG/table?dl=22EB4