PHILIPSBURG:--- The consumer price index for Sint Maarten has decreased in the month of
December 2015 by 0.3 percent compared to that of October 2015.
When comparing average consumer prices over a twelve month period (Dec.
2014 to Dec. 2015), an increase of 0.3 percent was recorded compared to the same period one year earlier. Inflation has shown an overall decline in
2015 (0.3%) compared to the rate of inflation recorded in 2014 (1.9%). This is also notable in the major expenditure categories; ‘Housing’ and ‘Transport
& Communication’, which both recorded significant declines in the rate of inflation approximately 187% and 136% respectively compared to that of
2014; whilst the major expenditure category ‘Food’ recorded inflation of approximately 10 percent higher than that of 2014. Most notably is that four of the nine expenditure categories recorded deflation in December 2015, which largely contributed to the significantly lower annual inflation rate for
2015.
This is evident from the data that has been released by the Department of
Statistics (STAT) today.
Price changes between October & December 2015
The consumer price index for Sint Maarten has decreased in the month of December
2015 by 0.3 percent compared to that of October 2015. The price index recorded in
December 2015 is 126.4.
Expenditure Category
WEIGHT INDEX OCTOBER
2015 INDEX DECEMBER
2015
% CHANGE
Food 10% 194.6 196.0 0.7
Beverages and tobacco 1% 145.6 145.3 -0.2
Clothing & footwear 7% 114.5 111.4 -2.7
Housing 39% 123.5 123.2 -0.2
Household furnishing & appliances 6% 145.8 145.6 -0.1
Medical care 3% 115.4 115.4 0.0
Transport & communication 20% 105.7 104.9 -0.8
Recreation & education 6% 106.3 106.5 0.2
Misc. 8% 120.6 120.4 -0.2
TOTAL 100% 126.8 126.4 -0.3
Expenditure Categories – declining consumer prices
In December 2015, six of the nine expenditure categories have become marginally less expensive, whilst two recorded increases and one remained stable. Amongst the more expensive were the categories; ‘Food’ (+0.7%) and ‘Recreation & Education’ (+0.2%). Whereas the expenditure categories ‘Beverages and Tobacco’, ‘Clothing and Footwear’,
‘Housing’, ‘Household Furnishing & Appliances’, ‘Transport & Communication’ and
‘Miscellaneous’ recorded the following decreases; 0.2%, 2.7%, 0.2%, 0.1%, 0.8%, and
0.2% respectively.
