Philipsburg:--- Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams told reporters on Wednesday that the Minister of Finance is busy discussing the 2011 draft budget as was presented to them earlier this year. The Prime Minister said the 2011 budget has a deficit of 100M guilders. Wescot Williams also indicated that the council of ministers are looking to have an amendment for the 2010 budget to accommodate country St. Maarten.
While the council of Ministers held their first live press briefing on Wednesday, three of the seven ministers did not show up for the press conference including the Minister of finance Hiro Shigemoto.
Listen to the First Council of Ministers:
The Prime Minister said the Minister of Finance is trying to secure a different type of agreement with the CFT compared to the one that is currently in place. She said the government of St. Maarten is trying to secure a transition agreement with the CFT since something has to be done with the 2011 budget since they are not able to wipe away the deficit of that draft budget. "We cannot take a pen and erase a 100M deficit... absolutely not."
The Prime Minister said this has nothing to do with the CFT giving St. Maarten advice on policies since that is not their job. Asked if the current Minister of Finance and the staff of the finance department are not the ones that prepared the draft 2011 budget, the Prime Minister said that while there are discussions taking place the draft budget is not being reworked but the Minister of finance is the one leading the discussions so as to come to an agreement with the CFT as to how to proceed with the draft that is on the table. Asked if the council of ministers have accepted the 100M deficit, the Prime Minister said the council of ministers did not discuss the deficit in the draft budget but they have agreed that the needs for country St Maarten are huge compared to the expected revenue and as such there needs to be a transition agreement with the CFT.