PHILIPSBURG – Foreign investors are moving in on the banking sector in St. Maarten, After Trinidad-based Republic Financial Holdings Limited bought the activities of Scotia Bank – that will now become Republic Bank – for $123 million in August, GNB Financial Group, owned by Colombian banker Jaime Gilinski Bacal, put up $779 million for a majority share in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) FirstCaribbean. GNB now controls FirstCaribbean banking activities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, St. Maarten. Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Dominica. GNB also operates banks in Grenada, Guyana, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Ghana and…
Author: The Publisher
PORT ST. MAARTEN – A delegation from Port St. Maarten and other local stakeholders recently returned from the flagship marine event, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS) in Florida. Owned by the Marine Industries Association of South Florida (MIASF) and produced by Informa Markets, FLIBS is recognized as the largest in-water boat show in the world. FLIBS spans more than three million square-feet of exhibit space. The five-day show attracts approximately 110,000 attendees and 1,200 exhibitors representing 52 countries with more than 1,500 boats on display each November. “Attending the boat show allowed us to gain insight into the…
By Hilbert Haar The parliament meeting about funding for the airport reconstruction was rather bewildering – at least, that was my experience. Finance Minister Perry Geerlings made clear that the bondholders refuse to sign off on the loan agreements with the World Bank Trust Fund and the European investment Bank until parliament unequivocally declares that the incoming interim government will honor these agreements. Only then will the bondholders release the $72 million insurance pay-out that is currently under its control. Passing a motion presented by Christian Party MP Claude Peterson would most likely have satisfied the bondholders. But former opposition…
PHILIPSBURG – After a parliament meeting that lasted close to three hours and fifty minutes, Christian Party MP Claude Peterson’s motion that aimed to assure bondholders about the caretaker government’s authority to sign off on loans from the World Bank and the European Investment Bank for the reconstruction of the airport failed to get majority support due to a lack of quorum. When it was time to vote, there were only seven parliamentarians left in the meeting. MPs Franklin Meyers, Jules James, William Marlin and Chanel Brownbill were not there, while MPs Brison and Emmanuel had already left before the…
PHILIPSBURG – Parliament unanimously approved the initiative of MP Rolando Brison to conduct a parliamentary inquiry into issues concerning the Mullet Bay property. An amendment presented by MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, geared towards narrowing down the scope of the inquiry, was defeated by 8 to 4 votes. Brison presented an abbreviated version of the proposal he made earlier in a central committee meeting. “This is an historic day, because it is the first time parliament discusses a parliamentary inquiry,” Brison said, adding that the inquiry aims to “remedy the ill-managed issue of the Mullet Bay property.” The MP furthermore said that…
PHILIPSBURG — MP Rolando Brison made Parliamentary history again on Tuesday when his proposal to conduct a Parliamentary into Mullet Bay was approved by Parliament by a unanimous vote. All members of Parliament present voted FOR! It was the first time the Parliament for St. Maarten voted to initiate a Parliamentary inquiry into any subject. As he has been stressing for a few months already, MP Brison re-iterated that the people of St. Maarten has waited nearly a quarter of a century to see any kind of action on Mullet Bay. The time to act is NOW. “24 Years is…
GREAT BAY — MP Rolando Brison made Parliamentary history again on Tuesday when his proposal to conduct a Parliamentary into Mullet Bay was approved by Parliament by a unanimous vote. All members of Parliament present voted FOR! It was the first time the Parliament for St. Maarten voted to initiate a Parliamentary inquiry into any subject. As he has been stressing for a few months already, MP Brison re-iterated that the people of St. Maarten has waited nearly a quarter of a century to see any kind of action on Mullet Bay. The time to act is NOW. “24 Years…
GREAT BAY — The Parliament of St. Maarten will vote on Tuesday for or against a proposal for a Parliamentary inquiry into Mullet Bay as tabled by Member of Parliament Rolando Brison. Entitled “Proposal for Parliamentary Inquiry: Giving Mullet Bay Back to the People”, the proposal calls for an inquiry into the ownership of the Mullet Bay area (issues with certificates of admeasurements and lack of deeds), the current volatile situation that exists between its current owner, government and citizens, and the need for Parliament and Government to intervene in every feasible way possible to protect one of its most…
By Hilbert Haar Without further ado, former Finance Minister Michael Ferrier has pointed to the procedures the World Bank uses for the distribution of recovery-dollars from the trust fund to explain why post Hurricane Irma home repairs are progressing at a snail’s pace. There is however more to say about this issue – much more. In its 2018 annual report the World Bank identifies one of the bottlenecks it has encountered: procurement constraints due to market limitations. It seems that the World Bank has trouble finding local companies to execute recovery projects. According to its report, this is partially due…
GREAT BAY — On Sunday, November 03, 2019, MP Claude “Chacho” Peterson issued the following press release. As announced in my press release of October 28, 2019, I posed 4 questions to the caretaker Minister of Finance, Mr. Perry Geerlings, on the financial situation at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA). I would first like to commend the caretaker Minister for seeing the urgency of the situation and providing the answers to my questions expediently. Regretfully, the President of Parliament did not share the urgency to reconvene the urgent public meeting on State of Affairs of PJIA (listed as OV-34) during…
