Philipsburg:--- Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt announced on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers' press briefing that his Ministry is working effortlessly to meet the deadline for the 2013 budget which is September 1st. Tuitt said that if the budget is not ready for the deadline date, it will be ready one week later. He said he is hoping that when the budget is ready it will be balanced.
However, the Finance Minister explained that he is encountering some difficulties with certain Ministries that have to reduce their budget so that the Ministry of Finance could submit a budget with (0) deficit. Minister Tuitt did not say which Ministries they are having problems with but he explained that the Ministries that were receiving funding from the Netherlands (plan van aanpak ) are the ones that have the highest budgets. Tuitt said the 2013 budget has a ceiling of Naf. 434 million. The Finance Minister further explained that if the Ministry of Finance is to take all the wishes of the different Ministries then the 2013 budget will have a deficit of Naf. 100 million. He said since the Ministry of Finance cannot comply with all the wishes of all the Ministries then his Ministry will only comply with the critical wishes of each Ministry. Minister Tuitt said that the Ministry of Justice was given a certain time frame to build up itself and since that did not happen his government is waiting on the new government to take its position in the Netherlands to resume talks with them regarding St. Maarten and the agreements they had with the Netherlands prior to the dismantling process. Minister Tuitt said that St. Maarten and Curacao have the same time frame and ceiling and that it is impossible for St. Maarten because if St. Maarten has to build up itself as a country then it would need more money and more time to do so. He further stated that Curacao had all the institutions and manpower yet St. Maarten has the same requirements. The Minister said that it is expected that St. Maarten reach the same level of Curacao while the new country cannot have a deficit in its budget. He said to build up a country it costs money and he needs Holland to tell him where he will get the monies to build St. Maarten if he has to stick to the guidelines set forth by them. He said the Finance Ministry would need more space in its operational and investment budget before it can reach the standard as Curacao.