Time to split up the monetary union of Curacao & St. Maarten?
~ Is it a good time now to take up the 2013 SER advice to split up the monetary union between Curacao and St. Maarten? ~ By Hilbert Haar The conditions the Kingdom wants to impose on Curacao for more liquidity More...
Dutch national bank to become watchdog of CBCS
PHILIPSBURG – The government of Curacao and the Central Bank (CBCS) will have to provide the Dutch National Bank (DNB) with a broad insight into the situation in the financial sector and into potential losses, More...
Knops maintains: Solidarity is a two-way street
THE HAGUE – “The vulnerability of the economies of the Caribbean islands is significant, not only because of the dependency on tourism but – in the case of St. Maarten – also because of the aftermath of More...
Fooling the people
By Hilbert Haar Let’s have a closer look at our government’s solidarity initiative of and in particular at the decision to cut the salaries of ministers and members of parliament. Based on a letter from the More...
CFT board members revolt
PHILIPSBURG – For the first time since its establishment almost ten years ago there is a public row among the board members of the Board financial supervision (Cft). The Cft-members representing St. Maarten (Russell More...
Liquidity support still up in the air
PHILIPSBURG – The government is still in a bind about the liquidity support it is expecting from the Netherlands for 2018 and 2019. But so far, St. Maarten has not met the conditions the Kingdom Council of Ministers More...
An egocentric attitude
By Hilbert Haar A salary cut for members of parliament is part of the debate about the draft 2019 budget. It is obviously an inevitable measure though it is more meaningful as a symbolical gesture than it is in More...
Minister Geerlings: “Unable to maintain current expense-levels”
PHILIPSBURG –Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings painted a dramatic picture of the country’s financial position during the handling of the draft 2019 budget on Monday. “An example of the way of thinking in More...
Minister Geerlings criticizes Dutch interference
PHILIPSBURG - Finance Minister Perry Geerlings criticized the Kingdom for interfering in St. Maarten’s affairs by attaching conditions to the provision of badly needed liquidity support but at the same time he More...
Between a rock and a hard place, but worse
By Hilbert Haar The expression caught between a rock and a hard place does not begin to describe the situation St. Maarten finds itself in now that the Kingdom Council of Ministers has put conditions in place for More...
