CBS Consumer Price Index for the Caribbean Netherlands, with (from top) St. Eustatius, Saba and Bonaire.
SABA/ST. EUSTATIUS--Consumer goods and services in Bonaire were 1.1 per cent more expensive in the second quarter of 2019 than in the same period last year.
In the first quarter of the year, consumers paid 0.7 per cent more than in the same period last year. Prices also went up in St. Eustatius and Saba, by 0.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent year-on-year, respectively, Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) reported on the basis of new consumer-price figures.
The increase in the average price level of goods and services in Bonaire is mainly caused by the development of food and electricity prices. Both fresh fruit and vegetables were more expensive in April, May and June, by more than 22 and four per cent, respectively, year-on-year.
Current prices of fresh fruit and vegetables are at their highest level since CBS started publishing the consumer price index in 2010.
Electricity prices remained the same in the second quarter of 2019 compared with the first quarter of the year, but these did increase by almost eight per cent when compared with the second quarter of 2018.
Between April and July 2019, consumers in Statia paid on average 0.4 per cent more for goods and services than in the same period last year. This was 0.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2019.
Potatoes were four per cent cheaper than in 2018. The price development of toiletries had a downward effect on consumer price inflation as well.
In the second quarter of 2019, consumer prices in Saba were on average 0.5 per cent higher than the previous year, versus 0.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year.
The price development of building materials curbed consumer price inflation, according to the CBS. In April, May and June 2019, the prices for these goods went up by three per cent year-on-year, while in the first quarter of 2019 these were still more than six per cent more expensive.
The price development of gasoline slowed down the consumer price increase as well. Food products such as fresh vegetables, on the other hand, became more expensive.
