PHILIPSBURG:--- In the early hours of Monday, March 2, 2026, a tragic incident on Arlet Peters Road (commonly known as Old Cake House Road) claimed the lives of two individuals. The Police Force of Sint Maarten (KPSM) is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the event, which occurred shortly after 3:30 a.m.
Central Dispatch received multiple reports of an overturned SUV near the entrance of Arlet Peters Road. Responding swiftly, several patrol units arrived at the scene to find a gray SUV flipped over. Both the male driver and a female passenger were discovered unresponsive inside the vehicle. Despite immediate efforts, both were pronounced deceased at the scene.
Initial findings by the Traffic Department have raised concerns that the incident may not be purely accidental. Evidence collected at the site has prompted suspicions of potential criminal involvement. Consequently, the Detective Department was called in to further investigate the matter.
The area was cordoned off to facilitate a thorough forensic investigation. Authorities have assured the public that additional details will be shared as the investigation progresses.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 115.28, which represented an increase of 0.16% when compared to the previous quarter. Additionally, when comparing consumer prices in the fourth quarter of 2025 to the fourth quarter of 2024, the results show a notable increase of 0.42%.

The total average CPI for 2025 is 114.90. The inflation for 2025 is 0.92%, indicating that overall price movements remained relatively stable throughout the year.

Quarterly Overview (Q4 2025-Q3 2025)
When comparing Q4 2025 to Q3 2025, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows that three of the four major expenditure categories increased during the quarter. These four categories carry the greatest weight in calculating the overall CPI and therefore have the largest impact on quarterly inflation trends. Overall, quarterly inflation remained low, driven by a decline in housing-related costs
• Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels recorded a decrease of 2.32% in Q4 compared to Q3. This decline was mainly due to a 6.69% drop in Actual rentals paid by tenants. In addition, Electricity, gas, and other fuels decreased by 0.97%, largely driven by a 1.13% reduction in electricity prices.
• Transport increased by 2.75% during the quarter. This was primarily influenced by a 6.50% rise in Transport services, mainly due to an 8.97% increase in Passenger transport by air. The subcategory Purchase of vehicles also rose by 2.10%, driven by higher prices for Bicycles (+4.56%) and Motorcars (+2.12%).
• Miscellaneous goods and services rose by 0.38%. This increase was mainly attributed to Personal care (+0.67%), particularly higher prices for Other appliances, articles, and products for personal care (+0.89%).
• Food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 0.87%. This growth was largely driven by Non-alcoholic beverages (+1.10%), especially Coffee, tea, and cocoa, which rose by 3.75%.

Annual Trends – Q4 2025 vs Q4 2024

Overall, the CPI for Q4 2025 increased slightly by 0.42% compared to Q4 2024. This modest rise was largely influenced by contrasting movements within the four main expenditure categories. Inflation remained below 1% year-on-year, reflecting stable price developments across most categories.
The largest category, Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, recorded a notable decrease of 2.07%, which helped keep overall inflation low. Meanwhile, the smallest of the four major categories, Food and non-alcoholic beverages, increased by 2.31%, partially offsetting the decline in housing-related costs.

Three of the four most influential expenditure categories recorded price increases compared to Q4 2024.
• Housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels decreased by 2.07%, mainly due to lower prices for Electricity, gas and other fuels (-7.50%) and Actual rentals for housing (-2.69%).
• Transport increased slightly by 0.84%, driven by higher costs for Operation of personal transport equipment (including fuel) (+1.77%) and Purchase of vehicles (+0.52%).
• Miscellaneous goods and services declined by 0.25%, primarily due to a drop in Financial services n.e.c. (-4.69). These include fees and charges for services from banks, post offices, money changers, brokers, tax consultants, and similar financial institutions.
• Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 2.31%, influenced by higher prices for Food products n.e.c. (+12.16%) and Sugar, jam, honey, chocolate, and confectionery (+8.30%). Food products n.e.c. include miscellaneous food items such as sugar cane, baking powders, broths, soup bases, instant desserts, and nutritional or fortified foods

Major CPI Categories – Weight, Quarterly, and Year-on-Year Changes

Oranjestad:---  The Board of Financial Supervision Aruba (CAft) applauds Aruba’s intention to become the first country in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom to implement a clear policy for the management of government participations and dividends. This policy, along with a new code of conduct for corporate governance, may help Aruba to identify financial risks at state-owned companies in an earlier stage, and to achieve more results and social return from these companies. Considering past experiences, in this context, the CAft emphasizes the necessity to actually implement such policy and to apply it in practice.

Participations policy

Companies in which the government holds an interest, are of importance to the Country, but they also entail financial risks, of which the CAft has experienced several examples. At Aruba Wastewater Sustainable Solutions (AWSS), the intention was to take out unnecessary expensive loans; at Utilities, dividends were paid without shareholder approval; and financing and procurement of several large projects at Refineria di Aruba (RdA) took place on unfavorable terms. In the case of the loans at AWSS, timely intervention took place, partly at the CAft's advice. Therefore, it is important that the roles are adequately distributed: the Minister of Finance acts as the owner on behalf of the government, the other Ministers issue orders, and the companies execute them, thereby making it clear who is responsible for what.

Aruba is working on the implementation of a policy for these participations, establishing rules for the payment of dividends. In addition, the country is working on a law on good governance by means of the National Ordinance on Corporate Governance. These frameworks are a solid basis for better management of state-owned companies, provided they are implemented and consistently complied with.

Aside from requesting attention for the government participations, the CAft again draws specific attention to the situation at the Dr. Horacio Oduber Hospital Aruba (HoH), of which, after all, the costs are borne by the government, whilst the government cannot intervene as owner nor shareholder. This entails considerable financial risks, and the CAft urges the government to reach a solution with the hospital and the owner.

Legislative Proposal Kingdom Act on Sustainable Government Finance (RHOFA)

With RHOFA, Aruba faces an important choice. The RHOFA and its corresponding National Ordinance offer a framework for financial supervision and generate interest benefits for Aruba. The RHOFA allows for cheaper refinancing of foreign loans with the Netherlands, and Aruba can register for new loans with the Netherlands to finance investments. This may lead to an interest benefit for Aruba of up to AWG 60 million per year, which is more than AWG 500 per Aruban citizen.

Financial management

The CAft applauds the progress Aruba is making when it comes to clearing the backlog with regard to the annual accounts. The Court of Audits of Aruba has now received all annual accounts up to and including 2024. The reports on the implementation of policy are also up-to-date. Now that the backlog is cleared, the focus must be on enhancement of the reporting quality. Aruba faces considerable challenges in this regard.

On February 26 and 27, the CAft visited Aruba. During this visit, the CAft spoke to the Governor, the Ministers of Finance, Economic Affairs, Justice, Integration and Public Transportation, with the Council of Ministers, the Parliament of Aruba, the Court of Audits of Aruba and companies such as Utilities and Refineria di Aruba.

The Department of Statistics records all visitors (including transfers) arriving at the St. Maarten Princess Juliana International Airport and refers to them as Air . Due to St. Maarten’s unique location, some travellers use it as a hub to reach nearby islands, including French St. Martin. The full implementation of the new digital immigration system has improved the accuracy of arrival data; however, certain limitations remain, such as the inability to distinguish between transfer passengers, residents, or European citizens, which affects the completeness of detailed Passenger Arrival statistics. The Department of Statistics no longer uses the term “Stay-over visitors,” as it does not fully capture the true nature of all air tourism in St. Maarten.

Passenger Arrivals Results

• The year overview indicates that total Air for 2025 amounted to 855,994. Quarter 1 (Q1) recorded 256,923 arrivals, representing 30% of the annual total. Quarter 2 (Q2) followed with 209,877 arrivals (24.5%), while Quarter 3 (Q3) accounted for 168,915 arrivals (19.7%). Quarter 4 (Q4) recorded 220,279 passenger arrivals by air, representing the remaining 25.7% of the total market share for the year.

• The North American market, comprising the United States and Canada, recorded a combined total of 541,615 air passenger arrivals, representing approximately 63.3% of total arrivals in 2025.
• Of this total, the United States, our largest source market, accounted for 462,038 arrivals, representing 53.9% of the overall market and approximately 85.3% of the North American market. The U.S. averaged over 45,000 passengers per month by air.

• The European Union, our second-largest market, recorded 221,179 air passenger arrivals, representing approximately 25.8% of total arrivals in 2025.

Within the EU market, France emerged as the leading source country with 87,952 passengers, accounting for approximately 39.8% of the EU market and 10.3% of total air arrivals. The Netherlands followed closely with 85,741 passengers, representing approximately 38.8% of the EU market and 10.0% of total arrivals.

• Continuing with the other regions, the Caribbean recorded a total of 43,986 air passenger arrivals, representing approximately 5.1% of total arrivals in 2025, with a monthly average of over 3,500 passengers.

The Central and South America region accounted for 25,484 arrivals, representing approximately 3.0% of the total market, averaging more than 2,000 passengers by air per month, with August emerging as the peak travel month.

• The Rest of the World recorded a total of 15,730 air passenger arrivals, representing approximately 1.8% of total arrivals in 2025, with a monthly average exceeding 1,200 passengers.

Cruise Arrivals Results

• Cruise visitors to St. Maarten recorded a total of 1,597,940 in 2025. Of this total, the First Quarter (Q1) accounted for 635,968 visitors, representing 39.8% of annual cruise arrivals. The Second Quarter (Q2) recorded 236,391 visitors (14.8%), while the Third Quarter (Q3) accounted for 164,881 visitors (10.3%). The Fourth Quarter (Q4) contributed 560,700 visitors, representing 35.1% of the total cruise market for the year.
• Growth was recorded in every quarter (2025) relative to the previous year (2024): 11% in Q1, 14% in Q2, 23% in Q3, and 22% in Q4, resulting in an overall 16% increase.
• Cruise calls are nearing the pre-Hurricane Irma milestone of 600, with all high-season months surpassing the previous year’s figures.
• Comparing cruise calls from 2024 (513) to 2025 (592) shows an addition of 79 ships, representing a 15% increase.
• In the fourth quarter, cruise arrivals grew by nearly 100,000 tourists—a 22% increase over the same period in 2024—bringing the total for 2025 to over 220,000 more cruise passengers than in 2024.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. A copy of this report will also be published on the STAT website at stats.sintmaartengov.org.