THE HAGUE:--- Honorable Chairpersons, Chairpersons of the Committees of Kingdom Affairs, and colleague Members of Parliament from Aruba, Curaçao, and the Netherlands, ladies, and gentlemen; good morning, bon dia, goedemorgen.
It is once again a pleasure for me to be able to give you a presentation with an update on the recent developments on Sint Maarten on behalf of the Sint Maarten delegation.
As we traveled to the Netherlands during the weekend to participate in this IPKO, we had just experienced Tropical Storm Fiona the weekend before. We are currently in the peak of the hurricane season, and the Government ensured that the population was prepared. However, no one can deny that five years after Hurricane Irma, which was followed by Maria, and then COVID-19 pandemic, we are still not where we should be when it comes to the rebuilding of Sint Maarten.
NRPB
With the aforementioned, allow me to give you a brief update on the recovery and reconstruction efforts of Sint Maarten after the passing of Hurricane Irma in September 2017.
Currently, the Trust Fund portfolio comprises ten projects that are now in implementation and three projects under preparation. Most of the projects are executed on behalf of the Government of Sint Maarten by the National Recovery Program Bureau and other agencies. The NRPB has been extended by 2 years by national decree.
Until September 6, 2022, the Dutch Government had transferred a final amount of US$ 511.9 million to the World Bank.
Allow me to give up an update on a few projects:
- The Hospital Resiliency and Preparedness Project,
The amount disbursed thus far is 23 million dollars of the 28.6 million dollars budget. - The Airport Terminal Reconstruction Project, Of the 129 million dollars budget, 30.8 million dollars has been disbursed. Currently, the main reconstruction works (package 2) are ongoing, but there are some delays, the extent of which the government is still ascertaining. It is noteworthy that Schiphol is a partner in the reconstruction, who currently do have significant operational problems of their own.
- The Digital Government Transformation Project This project has a budget of 12 million dollars, of which 0.8 million dollars has been disbursed.
- The Fostering Resilient Learning Project's various educational resilience projects: The FRLP has a budget of 28 million dollars available, of which 1.7 million dollars has been disbursed.
Unfortunately, The story of the trust fund is one more of allocation rather than application. Although 550 million dollars was reserved for the Trust Fund via the World Bank, of which 511.9 million has been transferred to the Trust Fund, only 185.8 million dollars has been disbursed to date. 5 years, 33%. The Government, however, has informed that it remains committed to seeing all projects executed to ensure that the recovery, reconstruction, and resilience envisaged are realized. We have our government, civil servants and many staff within the NRPB who all want this recovery to be realized.
So why is this not working? The ombudsman of St. Maarten has summarizes this very simply:
“The system set up by the World Bank doesn’t work. It’s too slow, too bureaucratic.” 12 december 2021 Ombudsman Gwendolien Mossel, an opinion shared by many others across the kingdom.
COVID-19 and Economy and Finance
Currently, the COVID-19 situation is to be considered stable. There are currently just four active cases. As of October 15, 2022, Sint Maarten will relax its entry requirements, whereby travelers will have the option to get COVID-19 insurance if they wish to do so.
Sint Maarten also intends to phase out the complete Electronic Health Authorization System (EHAS) by early 2023 into an EAS, removing the health aspect and simply being an instant advance passenger information system for data purposes. This will allow free flow and travel into Sint Maarten and will have a much-needed effect on our economy.
It goes without saying that the economy of Sint Maarten was dealt a hard blow due to Sint Maarten being hit by Hurricane Irma and not long after suffering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it can be said that Sint Maarten sustained the hardest blow in the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the last 5 years. Our GDP has been growing in relation to 2020; however, we did suffer a decline in 2020 of 17,9% compared to 2019.
Sint Maarten is still performing far below pre-Irma levels, which can be concluded when comparing the projected income levels. For example, the budget of 2017 projected an income level of 478 million guilders, while the budget of 2022 only projects an income level of 406 million guilders.
The financial situation of Sint Maarten can be considered quite difficult. The economy is slightly picking up again; however, the revenue side for the Government is lagging. The Ministry of Finance has indicated that liquidity support was still needed in 2022 and the outlooking for 2023 is not necessarily encouraging. It is for, among other things, this reason that some Members of Parliament and the Government have opined that, contrary to the statements of Cft, the budget for 2023 can not be balanced. The Cft, an “advisory body” persists that the budget of Sint Maarten for 2023 should be balanced, but this is based on comparisons with Bonaire and Curacao. The Ministry of Finance has informed that for 2022 a liquidity shortage of about 40 million guilders is expected and that the 2023 budget still shows a deficit in the phase of drafting the 2023 projections. It goes without saying, as mentioned previously, Sint Maarten not only had to endure the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but this had to be endured while not being fully recovered and recuperated from Hurricanes Irma and Maria. All islands are different, and this must always be taken into consideration. But to say that St. Maarten MUST have a balanced budget in 2023, is simply unrealistic, and perhaps even unreasonable and unfathomable. Cuts are constantly recommended to items that help us recover our economy, so how are we to improve government receipts when tourism budgets are cut? When we can’t hire critical staff? When we have to cut enterprise support.
There is some good news on the horizon. With the Hilton Vacations property officially opening just this week, and the announcement of JW Marriot as well as the Intercontinental Group and Planet Hollywood all slated to break ground in 2023, from a hotel sector perspective, confidence is at al all-time high. This would be the first time St. Maarten would have the top 3 hotel brands in the world (marriot, Hilton and IHG) in St. Maarten. But again: if our tourism budget is cut, how do we tell the world this good news? St. Maarten has the lowest tourism budget per capita in the kingdom, and despite efforts to raise it by parliament, CFT by means of their “advice” is defacto reversing amendments of Parliament.
A crucial property remains undeveloped for close to 30 years: Mullet Bay. The property of Mullet Bay is a crucial, important property for St. Maarten from a historical, economic, and environmental perspective. As you may know, it is currently embroiled in various litigation due to administrative action by the Central bank of Curacao and St. Maarten. The Parliament of St. Maarten currently has a Parliamentaire etiquette underway, which is in its confidential and closed door phase. The purpose of this inquiry is to bring clarity to this highly disputed property and provide options for St. Maarten’s way forward.
The Parliament of Sint Maarten is currently handling the national ordinances on the financial accounts for 2019 and 2020. The intention is to handle these in October 2022, which will bring Sint Maarten closer to the overall betterment of its financial management. But being forced to have a balanced budget in 2023 is worrisome, as it forces the government to make cuts rather than continue to invest in much needed economic and social development, all to comply with conditions for liquidity support.
Parliament is also currently handling the draft National Ordinance standardization of top incomes, which was only received in July 2022; however, it is a condition for the further phasing out of the 12,5% cuts imposed on the civil servants. The IMF in its most recent Article 4 kingdom consultation stated “the public wage bill freeze should be eased in light of the inflation shock and should eventually be replaced by a comprehensive reform focused on productivity and competitive wages.”
I encourage everyone to read the IMF Article 4 Kingdom Consultation report and juxtapose it to the advices of the CFT. The difference of opinion such as I mentioned above are startling.
In regards to these civil service laws, some of our eyes are on Aruba: because it would be interesting to see if the use of the amendment right of Parliament, such as to adjust the “standardization of top inkomens law”, or the national budget, to better fit our social and economic realities, would result in an instruction to the country. It begs the question: to what extent will the kingdom government go to supersede the free mandate of Members of Parliament in the countries?
The Committee of Decolonization and Constitutional Affairs remains very active in Parliament. The committee recently engaged in a discussion regarding the “Jus Cogens” or Prerumptory nature of Self-Determination, where the letter of the State Secretary that acknowledges Self Determination as paramount took center stage. The committee is also looking forward to the response that will be provided by the Netherlands to the CERD report, which highlighted various deficiencies. The CERD recommendations in nutshell stated that NL would have to dialogue with the Dutch countries and work towards (more) autonomy and elimination of racism/inequality.
Parliament is also awaiting the draft National Ordinance amending the Budget 2022 for handling. It is expected that this draft will be with Parliament shortly. But I cannot emphasize enough the challenge of passing even this budget amendment that is being advised upon without vision, understanding and creativity by the CFT prevents us from doing what is needed to help St. Maarten really fend for itself.
This then brings me to the end of this presentation. If there are any questions, I will be happy to answer them with my delegation.
Thank you for your attention, and I wish you all a pleasant and fruitful remainder of this IPKO.
Initiatieven. Socialize zekerheid. Minimum wage living wage increase.
Independent.
We do amendments that are balanced: A good example is the SSRP.
I watch your debates in both chambers often. And 2 things standout. The issues of the Boeren, and Electricity bills have been through the roof. Some of the opponents of green policies have said that those policies should be put aside for now in order to help the many people who suffer from high bills, and boeren who. How do you manage those two?
Asiel: the Netherlands has been criticized for its policy of allowing too many, but curacao we just heard of a closed border. And in the case of curacao, closing that border hurts the country, in the case of
