The island should brace for increases in the price of electricity, fuel and imported goods because of Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, a government MP has warned.

Christopher Famous, a Progressive Labour Party backbencher, said the war, now in its fourth week, would “most definitely affect us all economically, in both the short and long run”.

He highlighted that Russia was the word’s second-largest producer of crude oil and that global oil prices had soared from $65 a barrel last year to $100 by the middle of this month.

In an opinion piece today, Mr Famous quoted Kyle Rymer, the Minister for Transportation, Works and Utilities in the British Virgin Islands, who said the Ukraine crisis was “not going to be something that I or anybody here in the BVI will be able to control”.

Power firm Belco relies on imported oil — as do the majority of vehicles, which will see increased costs at the pumps.

Mr Famous said propane gas for cooking and air travel would also become more expensive.

He added: “The food and goods we import will go up as the ships bringing them have to use the same type of oil that our power plants operate on.”

Mr Famous warned there was “no escaping” a continued reliance on fossil fuels in the near future.

But he highlighted recent developments in renewable energy, including light-touch regulations allowing companies to develop solar and wave-generated electricity in Bermuda.

Mr Famous said: “As a region, we must continue to implement slow but steady increases to our energy supply mixes.”