Business recovery: “Tap into the greed of business people”

PHILIPSBURG – “You need to tap into the greed of business people.” Finance Minister Richard Gibson said on Wednesday about the fastest way to rebuild the country’s devastated economy after Hurricane Irma.

The minister said that he had spoken with former Minister Plasterk, his successor at Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops and with Nico Schoof, Head of Mission (HOM) for the reconstruction of St. Maarten about making money available at low interest rates to businesses.

“Why businesses? Because they hire people. You rely on businesses to employ people and to create economic activity.” the minister said, adding that the idea has received ‘the nod’ from Plasterk, Knops and Schoof but that it stayed there: “There are no specific discussions staking place about this right now.”