The political summer break is almost there and it is a good a time as any to assess the situation in our country. In my opinion (but who am I?) it does not look good and that is a pity. Why am I writing this? St. Maarten is unable to repay loans the Netherlands granted fifteen years ago. The prison is a mess – nothing new: it has always been a mess. Prison guards do not take their responsibilities seriously: when a fire broke out their solution was to flee the premises. The Minister of VROMI says that bribery is…
Author: The Publisher
By Tom Clifford in Beijing It seemed too good to be true, an economic version of the Arthurian legend. Let it not be forgot that for one brief shining moment there was a place called Camelot. The modern version might go like this… Our destiny in the distance shone, it was Amer-ina standing alone. America and China (Amer-ina), a united economic front, an inviting destination for the global economy, the city on the hill. Not too long ago this portmanteau seemed to sum up an oft-used phrase, a new world order. It was meant to work like this. US companies would set up shop in China…
St. Maarten is once again at a financial crossroads. With a slate of bullet loans dating as far back as October 2010 now coming due, the country finds itself unable to repay them. The advice from the College Financieel Toezicht (Cft) is clear: refinancing is the only viable path forward. But at what cost? The alarming revelation in the Cft’s recent advisory is not only that St. Maarten hasn’t repaid a guilder of these loans in over 15 years, but that no provisions were ever made in annual budgets to do so. These bullet loans—appealing at first glance due to…
By Hilbert Haar So now St. Maarten is saddled with a bunch of loans it is unable to repay. The only way out: refinancing. I am curious to see what kind of agreement our country will be able to make with the Netherlands about this issue. Until then, I remain more than a bit worried. See related article: Cft advises to refinance loans St. Maarten is unable to repay The advice of the Cft about the repayment of these loans makes a couple of things clear. First, St. Maarten has not repaid anything on loans that date back fifteen years…
PHILIPSBURG — St. Maarten is in a financial bind because it is unable to repay loans the Netherlands granted back in 2010. The State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Zsolt Szabó said that he is “not convinced” of the need to refinance these loans but financial supervisor Cft, asked for advice, responded that it does not see another option. On October 21, 2010, St. Maarten received five bond loans from the Netherlands that expired between ten and fifteen years. They all had different interest rates and St. Maarten was not required to make interim payments. The first loan…
PHILIPSBURG — Minister Grisha Heyliger-Marten (Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication) presented a detailed roadmap towards the development of agriculture in a recent meeting of the parliament’s Permanent Committee of Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry (CAFAH). The minister pointed out that there is just 51,000 guilders allocated for agriculture in the 2025 budget. “We must recognize, if we really want to develop the sector, that we cannot continue to depend on external financing.” Heyliger-Marten acknowledged that the tariff war started by American President Trump will have an effect on St. Maarten and that this will make it more urgent to…
By Hilbert Haar The draft banking law that is currently under review by the parliament triggers a number of questions. The first one is, of course, whether this law will result in “financial inclusion.” What is that supposed to mean anyway? See related article: Support for draft banking law, but questions remain Don’t get me wrong; it is positive that the government makes an effort to tackle the hurdles applicants for a basic bank account have to overcome if they want to get rid of their unbanked status. While the draft law tackles obstacles on the side of the banks,…
PHILIPSBURG — “Access to basic banking services is a fundamental right,” Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs declared when she presented the draft national ordinance that regulates access to a basic bank account to parliament. The draft law can count on strong support from among others MP Sarah Wescot-Williams and MP Frankie Meyers. However, from the explanation Minister Gumbs presented, it appears that basic bank accounts will come with some rigid restrictions. The Minister did not mention the amendment MP Ardwell Irion has submitted. More about that amendment later. A study dating back to 2021 suggested that 17 percent of citizens in…
PHILIPSBURG — The trade war US President Trump ignited by imposing tariffs on imports will have a serious effect on the economy of St. Maarten. This appears from a report entitled Macroeconomic Implications of the Announced US Tariff Measures for the Monetary Union, published by the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS). The Central Bank foresees “more expensive groceries and a decline in tourism from the United States and from Europe.” The report notes that St. Maarten’s economy has strong ties with the United States. The US is good for 50.5% of the trade between the two countries…
PHILIPSBURG — The cruise industry is rapidly changing and those changes could very well affect St. Maarten’s economy. This appears from a report on CNN by Terry Ward that describes the emergence of super-sized cruise ships. Ward describes how cruise companies are building ever larger ships to serve their customer base. And larger is not always better because the amenities on the new generation cruise ships are so extensive that passengers will hardly feel the need to disembark once they dock at a port. Royal Caribbean launched the largest cruise ship in the world in January 2024: the Icon of…
