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…
Author: The Publisher
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…
GREAT BAY — Member of Parliament Rolando Brison on Sunday evening told The Daily Herald that he will contest the upcoming Parliamentary Elections with the United People Party (UP) in the #1 position and as new leader of the green party. The move has been accepted and approved by the board of the UP and received the blessing of former party leader and founder Theo Heyliger. Brison made his decision after meeting with political parties this past week. Brison began his stint in the political arena with the UP as part of the party’s marketing team. While in college he…
PHILIPSBURG – St. Maarten has to take more measures to create a budget surplus, the Board financial supervision (Cft) writes in its advice about the 2020 budget to Finance Minister Perry Geerlings. The financial supervisor notes that expenditures are budgeted 16 million guilders too high and that lower pension premium payments for civil servants (around 8 million) are part of the draft budget while the Parliament still has to approve pension reform. The capital account does not include income from payments on outstanding study loans; the Cft asks Geerlings to adjust the budget on this point. The explanations for intended…
PHILIPSBURG – The shelter former Minister Emil Lee established in Sucker Garden after Hurricane Irma is scheduled to close down by the end of January next year. There are still forty hurricane-victims in the shelter that have nowhere to go. Through its Cole Bay Housing Project the shelter’s manager – the Dr. J. Foundation – is attempting to raise $45,000 for the repair of eight homes. “We are trying to renovate eight homes in Cole Bay,” says Dorian Neijs, case manager at the Dr. J. Founation. “They are good, concrete homes and we want to put eight families there that…
PHILIPSBURG – “If the rules allow hurricane victims to remain homeless after two years, something is not right about the rules,” former interim Finance Minister Michael Ferrier writes in a letter to the editor that heavily criticizes the role of the World Bank trust fund. Ferrier wrote his letter in a reaction to the imminent closure of the hurricane shelter in Sucker Garden, a project established by former Minister of Public Health, Social Affairs and Labor Emil Lee and managed by the Dr. J. Foundation. “It is shameful that with money in the trust fund, available for the purpose of building…
~ RFHL closes acquisition of seven Scotiabank operations ~ Port of Spain, Trinidad – Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL) is pleased to announce that it closed its acquisition of seven Scotiabank operations on October 31, 2019. Following receipt of approval from the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten, and the execution of the Banking Business Vesting Orders in five of the Eastern Caribbean territories, RFHL formally acquired Scotia’s operations in Anguilla, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, and St. Vincent & the…
PHILIPSBURG — After much thought and consideration, Member of Parliament Franklin Meyers has decided not to participate in the upcoming snap elections slated for January 9th 2020, but instead gearing up for following elections in the more distant future. Meyers, who recently established his own political party, the St Maarten Action Movement (SAM) decided that, instead of participating, he will support a candidate of his choice for the upcoming 2020 elections. Meyers explained: “the preparations that are necessary to organize a political party for an election is no easy feat as there are several moving parts. In the case of…
PHILIPSBURG — The Board of USP stands behind its principles of inclusion and opportunity for all. As a party, we have always embraced creativity and the promotion of young dynamic candidates, giving all an opportunity to serve their country and our record speaks for itself. We were the trend setters from our inception in 2014, with the unveiling of a board headed by a young president, and fifteen (15) young candidates, all with the desire and passion to serve their country; that has not and will not change. We firmly believe that everyone should be given an opportunity to serve…
PHILIPSBURG – The revenue St. Maarten generates could be much higher “if the increase in tax compliance as a result of restructuring the tax administration is achieved,” Raymond Gradus, the chairman of the Board financial supervision (Cft) said at a press conference earlier this week. “There is room for government revenue to grow, once the highly necessary restructuring efforts have been put into place.” Gradus said that the country expects 2019 to end with a budget deficit of 40 million guilders, way below the budgeted 71 million. The Cft-chairman briefly outlined the function and position of his organization because of…
