THE HAGUE – The Netherlands made €16.5 million ($17.82 million or around 32 million guilders) available on Friday in immediate assistance for the most vulnerable citizens in St. Maarten, Curacao, Aruba and the BES-islands. State Secretary Drs. Raymond Knops said during a live-streamed press conference that the money will be used to supply people with food and hygiene products. How the money will be divided over the islands remains unclear. Knops said that the Dutch government wants to use the local networks of non-governmental organizations to identify and help vulnerable citizens. “We will help there where the need is the…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – The draft 2020 budget understandably shows significantly higher expenditures due to the COVID-19 crisis, but it seems that the government is unable to get a grip on its ballooning personnel costs while the overview of subsidies contains contributions to events that did not even take place, such as the annual carnival. Personnel costs are up 5.1 million guilders (5 percent) for a total of 119.8 million guilders ($66.9 million). Other costs are also projected to increase. The government expects to pay 13 percent more for child allowance (a bit over 1 million guilders), 24 percent more for gratifications…
by Lasana M. Sekou GREAT BAY, St. Martin (April 24, 2020)—The author Louis L. Duzanson passed away in St. Martin on April 16, 2020. He was 71. He leaves his beloved wife Oretha and many family members. He also leaves several friends and colleagues throughout the island and abroad. Louis L. Duzanson was born on November 16, 1948, in San Nicolas, Aruba. His early schooling was completed at St. Joseph School in St. Martin, his family’s homeland. From 1966 to 1971, he studied public administration at Bestuurschool Overijssel and document management at Studiekring Overheidsdocumentatie in the Netherlands. Between 1975 and 1991,…
PHILIPSBURG — Social protection systems are coming under considerable pressure with the implementation of mitigation strategies to control the spread of COVID-19 in the Caribbean. Efforts to mitigate the negative effect of the pandemic on the well-being of those most at risk are now underway across the Caribbean. Attention is being given in particular to those most economically vulnerable, notably women, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities and migrant populations. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), as part of its outreach under the auspices of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Social Development in…
Dear Editor, 1) Parliamentarians in meeting of April 22 said things like: ….being sick and tired of us (SXM) having to run to Holland every time (there is a need) to BEG. 2) Alternatives of Go-To Private Investors who might be ready, willing and able to bail out St. Maarten were offered by name. But what was not mentioned was AT WHAT PRICE to the people? When it comes to looking for money to get us out of the mess we are in, we all know there is no such thing as “a FREE lunch”; so even if under the…
PHILIPSBURG – The draft 2020 budget does not contain any indication that ministers and parliamentarians will take a ten percent salary cut. On the contrary, the listed salaries for all ministers – with the exception of Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs – are exactly the same as in 2019. The salary cut is a condition for receiving financial aid from the Netherlands. Jacob’s annual salary in 2019 was 229,961 guilders; the budgeted salary for 2020 is 219,962 guilders, a decrease of 9,999 guilders (4.35 percent). The prime minister also takes a small cut in her vacation allowance (from 14,986 to 14,350…
“No loans but grants and no conditions” ~ PHILIPSBURG – No loans but grants, and above all no conditions. Those were some of the sentiments expressed by parliamentarians during a digital central committee meeting about the government’s Stimulus Relief Plan. However, grants are not going to happen and conditions are not going to go away. MP Omar Ottley made reference to the Marshall Plan, the American aid package for the reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War. “There were no stipulations for this. They assisted with no conditions,” Ottley said. Other MPs joined this chorus. MP George Pantophlet: “We…
PHILIPSBURG – The draft 2020 budget closes with a deficit of 263.2 million guilders ($147 million). Expenditures total 610.5 million and revenue 347.3 million. The Council of Advice is critical of the budget: “We regret that the draft shows little to no progress compared to the previous budget,” the Council writes in its advice dated March 31. “We advise not to approve the budget in this form.” The draft budget oozes the impact of the COVID-19 virus crisis and the uncertainty it represents for St. Maarten’s reality. Minister Ardwell Irion writes in the explanatory memorandum that the budget is based…
People of St. Maarten, I hereby address you as Prime Minister and Chair of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), in an update for today, Monday, April 20, 2020 as part of the process to keep the community of St. Maarten informed about the latest developments and the Government’s COVID-19 containment, mitigation and response measures. COVID-19 Cases Based on the latest available data, the counts for April 20, as of 4:00 PM are as follows: Self-Quarantine: 98 (no new updates) Self-Isolation: 87 (no new updates) Number Hospitalized: 7 (based upon information received on April 19 at 5:30 PM) Number Tested: 249…
Willemstad/Philipsburg – The Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (CBCS) has recommended the governments of Curaçao and Sint Maarten to invoke article 36 of the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in order to obtain aid from the Netherlands for financing the national budgets, safeguarding employment, and – if needed – financing the balance of payments. The foreign exchange reserves are managed by the CBCS, who must ensure a sufficient supply of foreign exchange for the unhampered execution of foreign transactions. By doing so, the confidence in the fixed peg of the NAf to the US dollar can…
