Philipsburg: --- The Government of St. Maarten should take some sort of decision regarding the joint Central Bank for Curacao and St. Maarten says Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams at Wednesday's Council of Ministers press briefing. The Prime Minister said that St. Maarten cannot act as though everything is normal and not be reminded about the decision the Curacao Parliament took regarding a joint central bank. Wescot Williams said the government of Curacao has made their position clear as to how they intend to move forward. She said the two countries can come together and agree to disagree with regards to the joint central bank. Wescot Williams said that if such a decision is taken definitely St. Maarten will be affected but a decision she said must be taken since the subject is too important to have it lingering or festering without a precise decision."We have to also recognize that the agreement of 2006 is not the same regarding a joint central bank for the two countries," the Prime Minister said that both countries should take a decision as soon as possible as she does not think the two countries can continue to have this matter hanging over their heads much longer. Wescot Williams said that she also believes that dollarization still remains and option for St. Maarten until clear explanations are given on which currency would better serve St. Maarten.
When asked what or how her government is approaching the issue at hand, the Prime Minister said that while St. Maarten can jump as high as it wants there is not much government can do since St. Maarten does not have their own infrastructure in place to start off on their own monetary system (central bank). She said that was the reason why the government of St. Maarten insisted that the local branch of the Central Bank on St. Maarten be upgraded based on the agreements that were made in the past. Prime Minister Wescot Williams said the Central Bank of Curacao was supposed to upgrade the Central Bank on St. Maarten so that it could operate independently but that she said is still not the case. She further explained that should Curacao decide to split immediately then St. Maarten has nothing in place which would allow it to operate. "Our first request with the Central Bank was to comply with that part of the agreement with the upgrading of St. Maarten's branch."
The Prime Minister said while St. Maarten has estimated it shares so far the Council of Ministers did not get any official information on the foreign exchange levy and other shares from the Central Bank. She said right now the communication between the Central Bank and St. Maarten is difficult and as such they are considering other means to deal with the issue. The Prime Minister said the Central Bank issue is also affecting the completion of the new government building on Pond Island which has to be completed and the St. Maarten needs finances to move forward. Besides that she said unless St. Maarten get more information on its shares in the Central Bank and other government owned companies the budget of 2012 will be grossly affected. The Prime Minister said that the if the situation is not resolved soon St. Maarten would end up having the same problems they encountered this year to balance its budget. "Not being able to incorporate our shares will lead us to trying to get blood out of stone with the 2012 budget." She said the economic environment does not allow St. Maarten to increase taxes to bring more money in government coffers.
