Remember gas in Europe is 95 octane. Premium fuel in the states is around $3.09US per gallon. Things could be a lot worse.

Instead of currency, try talking about the buying power of the average person in the country.
In Belize a common labourer earns about $5 BZ an hour.
That translates to a gallon of gas costing more than two hours wages.
Highly doubtful that gas costs two hours wages in the US, England or Holland.
This is a critical item here - it affects the cost of everything - including a bus-ride to school.

Diane,
in a nutshell, what forces constructions costs up so high?

Filled up my full sized pickup truck yesterday in new jersey, $90.00 us. @ 2.89 a gallon, I can't wait to come down and fill up my boat in a couple of weeks @ over $5.00 a gallon US.

Filled up this aft. $5.37US per gallon at the pump on the backside of the island.

Ouch Simon, Guess i'll have to bring the big bag of money for this trip. By the way we did not forget about the rest of the stuff we have for SAGA. We will see you at the end of the month.

Di

I beleive the min wage in the UK is around 5.05 poundsan hour

A gallon of gas is around 5 pounds so not quite as bad as belize but still pretty bad

Thanks Gaz for the perspective. That is the kind of info that puts it all in perspective. So back in 2000 when gas was $5 bz a gallon it was still a bit high, but somehow more in line with costs in a first world nation.
Today's costs are simply back-breakers in Belize.

Gay and David - this thread is about gas, not construction but in a nutshell the costs for construction tend to be greatly affected by:
1. buyer demand for first world products and the high cost of obtaining them.
2. hurricane awreness and intent to make a structure that wills tand the test of time
3. taxes
4. weather - last year a lot of money was spent doing things twice - for instance unexpected torrential rains collapse a foudnation hole ready for a cememt pour - days lost pumping the water out of the collapsed hole and then digging it again. wages paid to workers keeping them and families fed whilst waiting for a storm to pass, etc. Hurricanes in the US making certain materials almost impossible to obtain and driving up the prices when you can obtain them.
stuff like that.

YOu can still build a house for 40 a sq

sorry, my fingers hit the wrong button before I was done ---
I wanted also to mention that on AC there is a new requirement related to speticv/sewage disposal. A closed system is now required and it is pretty expensive compared to a septic tank.

so - yes you can build for 40US a sq foot - in Cayo - but not here if you want to have a building that will withstand a storm and will dispose of sewage properly.

I can't type - did you notice - Marty - can we get spell-check for this message board please?