Prices have decreased in April compared to February 2016

The consumer price index for Sint Maarten has decreased in the month of April 2016 by 0.3 percent compared to that of February 2016. When comparing average consumer prices over a twelve month period (April 2015 to April 2016), a decrease of 113.3 percent was recorded compared to the same period one year earlier. The current level of deflation (-0.2%) is comparable to that recorded in January 1986 (-0.3%).

In April 2016, three of the nine expenditure categories became more expensive, whilst five became cheaper and one remained unchanged. Amongst the more expensive were the categories; ‘Beverages and Tobacco’ (+0.5%), ‘Transport & Communication’ (+0.7%) and ‘Miscellaneous’ (+0.1%). Whereas slight decreases were recorded for the expenditure category ‘Food’ (-0.5%), ‘Clothing and Footwear’ (-0.1%) ‘Household Furnishing & Appliances’ (-0.7%), ‘Housing’ (-0.7%), and ‘Medical Care’ (-0.1%), whilst the expenditure category ‘Recreation & Education’remained unchanged. Notable is the drop in consumer prices for the expenditure category ‘Food’. This is the first decrease recorded within this sector since mid-2010.