PHILIPSBURG – The document authored by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations that outlines the measures the Caribbean Reform entity (CE) intends to implement in St. Maarten Curacao and Aruba pays keen attention to economic reform with a series of nine projects. And once more, many of these initiatives should have been taken by successive governments since 10-10-10, but they never did. Possibly the most prominent change the CRE is promoting is a further increase of the retirement age. St. Maarten’s Parliament recently approved the increase from 62 to 65 years, but the CRE proposal foresees an increase…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Reading through the document that outlines the 59 measures the Caribbean Reform Entity (CRE) has in mind to put St. Maarten, Curacao and Aruba in better shape feels a lot like looking at an X-Ray that reveals in very embarrassing detail all the things successive governments should have done since 10-10-10 – but never did. This article highlights most of the proposed measures in the field of the costs and effectiveness of the public sector; this section contains 15 of the 59 CRE-measures. The CRE-objective is to increase the effectiveness of the public sector by decreasing the wage…
PHILIPSBURG – Government and Parliament will have their hands more than full in the next couple of weeks now that State Secretary Drs. Raymond Knops has released the detailed conditions for continued liquidity support. St. Maarten must get a whole range of measures in place by mid-September and for some measures, the deadlines are even tighter. This appears from several documents Knops sent to the Kingdom Council of Ministers. The government is asked to enter into a country-specific package agreement that will end on December 31, 2027, with the option of an extension by two years upon mutual agreement. The…
PHILIPSBURG – In collaboration with the Department of Foreign Relations (DBB), the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth, and Sport (ECYS), and the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunication (TEATT), a repatriation flight has been arranged with Spirit Airlines for students and residents to return to St. Maarten. The flight will depart from Hollywood International Airport (FLL) in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and proceed to Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM). Students and residents who have already registered via the DBB, ECYS and TEATT, have been forwarded to Spirit Airlines. Spirit Airlines will make the flight available for online booking via spirit.com as of 3:00 PM…
~ Review Thesis of Arjen Alberts: “Tourism industry exceeds carrying capacity” ~ PHILIPSBURG – “I will show that Small Islands Tourism Economies not only exceeded their carrying capacity but also no longer show any increase in productivity.” This is the premise of economist Arjen Alberts’ thesis “Small Island Tourism Economies and the Tourism Area Lifecycle; Why Aruba and Sint Maarten have exceeded their carrying capacity.” Alberts defends his thesis on September 21 in the Agnietenkapel at the University of Amsterdam to obtain his doctoral degree. The thesis is under embargo until the date of Alberts’ promotion, but he allowed StMaartenNews.com…
PHILIPSBURG — Our new news magazine INSIDE St. Maarten is now on sale in the supermarkets and shops on St. Maarten. You can buy a copy of our brand new magazine for just $2 per copy. Our INSIDE St. Maarten news magazine contains in-depth articles, interviews, advice columns, and stories from our readers. Get your copy today! The INSIDE St. Maarten news magazine is available in the following outlets: CARREFOUR Supermarket in Cul-de-Sac FOOD99 on the Bush Road JADE DOLLAR STORE on the Bush Road HO Supermarket in St. Peters on the main road AKI Supermarket on the A.T. Illidge…
PHILIPSBURG – The Ministry of Finance will publish the list of employers that have received payroll support after the regulation that makes publication possible is in place. The list has already been sent to the Department of Labor Affairs and Social Services. The Ministry of Public Health, Social Affairs and Labor (VSA) encourages employees who have not received their rightful salary to come to the department for assistance. If mediation with the employer does not solve their situation, the department will provide legal assistance. In another press release, Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion announces that he has sought counsel from…
PHILIPSBURG – In a rather confusing letter to Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs, TelEm director Kendall Dupersoy seemingly proposes a 30 percent increase of the maximum income for managers of all government-owned companies. The kingdom’s condition for receiving further liquidity support is a lowering of these salaries by 12.5 percent. Dupersoy refers in his letter to a ministerial decree issued by Curacao’s Minister of Finance Kenneth Gijbertha on May 20. This decree sets the maximum annual income at government-owned entities at 290,000 guilders (roughly $162,000 – or $13,500 per month). This income includes vacation allowances, Christmas and performance bonuses, other allowances,…
Sacred Legacies: Standing on the shoulders of giants Emancipation, Emancipation, Emancipation A word that brings about many reactions within us at the same time. When you truly know this word it takes you on a mental journey. Hearing the word EMANCIPATION takes you back in time, while you think about your present situation. Freedom, escaping and getting away from. There is always something, somewhere or someone that appears in your mind while you wonder about your future. SACRED LEGACIES Imagine when the idea about running away from that place came to mind. The first thing was, who can I tell…
PHILIPSBURG – KRK Corporation, the entity that operates Milano Diamond Gallery and Diamonds Are Forever in Philipsburg is on the ropes for a hefty payment to a former employee after the Common Court of Justice threw out its appeal against an earlier court decision. KRK has to pay the former employee $34,970 for arrears in black payments and for cessantia and $2,608 per month in net salary up to July 1, 2020 – the date the court set for the dissolution of the labor contract. If KRK has to pay this salary from the month it was first established by…
