Philipsburg, 10-10-2018 – Today the Minister of Finance, Perry Geerlings, presented the Financial Recovery Plan. The Financial Recovery Plan (hereafter: FRP) translates the financial part of the Governing Program 2018-2022, Building a Sustainable Sint Maarten. It describes the how, when and with whom the necessary steps towards financial resilience will be taken in the governing period from 2018 until 2022. These steps will form the basis for achieving all other initiatives in the Governing Program (including the National Recovery & Resilience Plan).
During the Council of Ministers press briefing, the Minister of Finance gave a brief overview of the financial history since 10-10-2010 and the challenges Sint Maarten faced in the past eight years with the hurricanes Irma and Maria as a very dark chapter in the recent past. The Minister: “Since rebuilding our nation needs to be first and foremost the responsibility of Sint Maarten itself, our Governing Program reflects the enormous task at hand to rebuild our country and our economy, next to operating in a normal day-to-day business of running our government. On this symbolic day, as promised to you, the people of Sint Maarten, I am presenting the Financial Recovery Plan.” The Minister stated that the financial position of our Government is very critical.
The risks that we face if we look at the financial state of the country are:
- Severe budget / liquidity shortages for our government
- Worsening public financial management
- Unfunded social security, pension plans
- Social, economic and political instability
Two trajectories of the FRP
The FRP is built around two trajectories. The first one entails the Government putting their house in order. The plan details organizational measures to be taken to increase the efficiency of governmental departments, such as improvement of our Public Financial Management, public service levels and restructuring of the Tax Administration. Simultaneously the second trajectory will be executed and entails agreeing with the Netherlands on changes in the current financial framework and seeking of approval of loans and grants. If necessary, additional avenues will be explored through international or regional bodies.
Geerlings: “In the volatile political climate in Sint Maarten, my analysis of the current financial dependency might easily be mistaken for submission. This is not the case. Our partners carry a responsibility to thread swiftly and carefully given the current climate in Sint Maarten. We will constantly remind them that time is of the essence.”
The complete Financial Recovery Plan can be downloaded at: http://www.sintmaartengov.org/special-campaigns/Pages/Financial-Recovery-Plan.aspx
