No reason for panic Minister Gibson says

PHILIPSBURG – There is no reason to panic, Finance Minister Richard Gibson said at an impromptu press conference on Wednesday afternoon about the country’s financial position, after stmaartennews.com reported – based on a letter from financial supervisor Cft – that the government would run out of money by the end of December.

“The alarm is unfounded.’ Minister Gibson said. “We have been lobbying for budget support from the Netherlands and the Cft has supported that request. In terms of available funds, as of Tuesday, we have 26 million guilders in the bank and those are not the only funds we have.”

Later on however, the minister said that the government would – “hypothetically” – run out of money within the next three months “if nothing changes, if income does not improve and if expenses remain the same and exempting the sale of shares in government-owned companies.”

Minister Gibson said that there are funds in reserve the country could fall back on. The 20 million guilders reserved for payment arrears to pension fund APS are still in the bank, as are 21 million for capital investments.

“We have not spent that money, to make sure that we have enough funds, the minister said. “There is no reason for panic at this point in time, though eventually we will reach that point.”

When push comes to shove, the government has still another option. “We have wealth, funds we can activate to acquire money to take care of our expenses. We own all the shares in our government-owned companies and if it comes to a crisis we could sell a part of those shares.”

The Netherlands has expressed preparedness for budget support to the tune of €42 million ($49.56 million at the current rate of exchange, or around 88.7 million guilders) for the 2017 budget, the minister said.

Related news stories:
Government out of money by month’s end
Cartoon: Government Money Bag