PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — The Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Omar Ottley informs the public, that due to technical problems with the establishment of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the AOV (Old-age pension) and AWW (Widow- and Orphan Insurance) will not be assessed in time to be indexed per January 1, 2022.
Annually, in accordance with the legislation, the amounts of AOV and AWW are adjusted on the basis of an increase in the CPI of the current year compared to the previous year. The CPI is determined by the Statistics Department.
In consultation with my colleague, the Minister of TEATT, it has been established that the CPI cannot be determined due to technical problems with the new calculation system, and this has led to a delay in obtaining the CPI for 2021.
The CPI will not be available until the first quarter of 2022. “This means that my Ministry is not able to assess if there is an increase in the CPI, in order to index the amounts of AOV and AWW as of January 1, 2022.
As the Minister responsible for the indexation of the AOV and AWW amounts, I deeply regret this situation.” The intention is that once the CPI is provided by the Statistics Department, the necessary indexation will occur retroactively.
