PHILIPSBURG–Parliament examined on Friday the request of Finance Minister Perry Geerlings to amend the 2018 budget to make room for the direly-needed NAf. 166.1 million in liquidity support from the Dutch Government and to mandate him to enter into a zero-interest 30-year loan agreement with a five-year grace period to be provided by the Dutch.
The amendment to the budget, which is a law established by Parliament earlier this year, was sent by the Central Committee of Parliament to a plenary sitting for approval. That sitting of the legislature is expected to take place on Tuesday, following the opening of the 2018-2019 Parliamentary Year.
Liquidity support is needed due to the dip in revenues caused by the impact of Hurricane Irma. Once the agreement is signed the financial support will be doled out quarterly and be shown in government’s quarterly reports.
Geerlings told Members of Parliament that government has some NAf. 20 million in its current account at the moment. This “not sufficient to make ends meet or keep government or Parliament going,” he pointed out in responding to a question from MP Sarah Wescot-Williams (United Democrats).
Government is “pretty much” current with payment to its major creditors. However, there is still some NAf. 20 million outstanding to the General Pension Fund APS and the same amount is also owed to the government health insurance.
Government does expect some NAf. 28 million more in revenues than budgeted for 2018. Geerlings could not give the sectors from which the funds will be derived, as requested by MP Ardwell Irion (National Alliance), because the tax system still needs to be modernised and updated.
A second amendment, yet to come, will be related to some NAf. 12.6 million in capital expenditures and include better substantiation on usage as required by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT. That amount might be higher, Geerlings said, as other ministers still have to indicate projects they still want to start this year.
MP Claude Peterson (St. Maarten Christian Party) expressed his concerns about the terms of the loan and whether these would change from 2017 to 2018. Geerlings said the terms remain the same.
The need to improve communication between Parliament and government was highlighted by MP Rolando Brison (United St. Maarten Party). He also decried the short time given to Parliament to review the amendment.
MP Frans Richardson (UP Party) said the minister should ensure that businesses and individuals are not targeted by the Tax Department. He also called for government to step up and give residents the relief that is still very much needed.
MP Christophe Emmanuel (NA) was vocal about moving away from “the colonisers,” as he refers to the Dutch. “We should be pulling away quick fast from the colonisers,” he said as he issued a call to government to collect all the monies still outstanding to St. Maarten since the breakup of the Netherlands Antilles.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/80412-mps-deal-with-mandating-geerlings-to-sign-zero-interest-30-year-loan
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