Finance minister cites the timing of the 2026 budget after MP Viren Kotai presses for answers on delayed projects, financing and the missing multi-year investment plan.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs told Parliament on Monday, November 9, that Cg. 42,111,184 in borrowing planned for 2026 capital projects had been shifted to 2027. She attributed the move to the timing of the approved 2026 budget and said that even after a loan is approved, it can take months for the money to become available.
MP Viren Kotai pressed Gumbs on why the 2026 loan did not receive favorable advice from the Board of Financial Supervision (Cft), whether the absence of a multi-year investment plan played a role, and how much the delay could add to project costs.
Gumbs disputed the premise that the missing investment plan explained the lack of favorable advice. She said previous loans had proceeded without such a plan and that budgets and loan requests are assessed by year. In her account, the Cft’s Article 11 advice called for adjustments to the loan request where needed. She said she had seen no indication at that stage that the loan would fail to go through and therefore had seen no need to issue a warning.
Projects await financing before tenders can go out
Gumbs said the 2027 budget includes about Cg. 98 million in planned investment. Execution depends on the budget and financing. For the new projects discussed in Parliament, she said no tenders had gone out, no contracts had been awarded, and no payments had been made. The government would move to tender once it had a favorable assessment and certainty about financing, she said.
The minister acknowledged that postponing projects can increase their costs. She gave Parliament no estimate of the additional expense. She also said she expected no impact on projected 2027 revenue from the delay because the projects were not expected to generate revenue and had not been included in the International Monetary Fund’s projections.
Some work has separate funding. Gumbs said Cg. 3.5 million from existing resources was earmarked for part of VROMI’s Cg. 9 million capital program. She also said funding had been secured and received for the tax administration system and the government’s enterprise resource planning system, both of which were already underway. The proposed Tax Administration building is a separate project that depends on borrowing in 2027. Preparatory work includes identifying suitable premises.
Government aims to answer five Cft concerns by month’s end
Gumbs said the government aimed to update the Cft and Parliament by the end of November on five issues. They include the financial position of the healthcare funds, risks at TelEm and Postal Services Sint Maarten, and the government’s liquidity and revised revenue estimates. The update is also expected to cover the multi-year investment agenda and the status of the collective sector, which bears on the assessment of the country’s interest burden.
On the proposed National Development Bank, Gumbs told Parliament it would receive the multi-year investment plan before any decision to establish the bank. She said the National Recovery Program Bureau was studying financing options for small businesses. A separate infrastructure fund spanning Justice, TEATT and VROMI remained at a preliminary stage, with no borrowing amount or cost presented.
The next documents will show how much of the delayed work can realistically go ahead in 2027. The investment plan is expected to give Parliament more detail on how projects will be financed and carried out. Monday’s answers set the amount of borrowing being moved into the next budget year, while the cost of the delay and the tender dates remained open.