Philipsburg:--- Finance Minister Roland Tuitt told reporters very briefly on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing that the CFT issued a positive advice on the 2013 budget. Minister Tuitt said that his Ministry is now preparing the other documents to send the 2013 budget to Parliament for approval. He said the budget should be sent over to parliament by the end of this week.
Tuitt also told reporters that he will be leaving the island to the Netherlands where he will meet with Minister Plasterk.
Tuitt said he will also be meeting with a committee to discuss several matters relating to St. Maarten. He said one of the topics on the agenda is the social funding. Tuitt said his aim is to ensure that communication between the Netherlands and St. Maarten remains at a certain level, while he will be looking for information on the structure used in the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) payments for civil servants in the Netherlands.
Meeting with Bankers Association on FACTA fruitful.
The Finance Minister also reported that he held a meeting with the banking association on St. Maarten. Tuitt said that meeting was to discuss the implementation of the FACTA and his Ministry is providing all the necessary information to the bankers association now because when the FACTA is implemented in 2014 everyone will be prepared. He said a follow up meeting is scheduled with the bankers association so that his Ministry can delineate all that is necessary on the FACTA.
Tuitt said after he finishes the delineating process with the bankers association and they find a way of moving forward then he will look at how far the Netherlands is with the process because it is in the interest of the Netherlands to get an agreement with the US regarding the FACTA because one of their main industries is financial services.
TAXAND Issue Discussed with Council of Ministers --- Tuitt Appointed to Proceed with Taxand scandal.
On the issue of TAXAND, the Minister of Finance told reporters on Wednesday that he discussed the report he received from the SOAB on the TAXAND investigation with the Council of Ministers. He said the Council of Ministers has designated him to continue the process while he also has to design a path forward with the TAXAND affair. Tuitt said that when he returns from the Netherlands he intends to finalize his plans on how to move forward with the TAXAND scandal.
Lottery Game an Idea to Generate Funds of SDF.
Minister Tuitt also announced on Wednesday that the St. Maarten Development Fund (SDF) which was recently established to take over what AMFO was doing with social funding is planning to establish a lottery game to accumulate monies to fund social projects and non-governmental organizations. Tuitt said that the proceeds from this lottery game will go towards financing all social projects on St. Maarten.