Philipsburg:--- The Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams along with Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt and the Council of Ministers of Curacao have reached an agreement on how they intend to proceed with the joint Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten.
The Prime and Ministers of Finance of the two countries met over the weekend to find a solution regarding the impasse at the Central Bank. Curacao's Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte told reporters during a video conference on Saturday afternoon that he is not in a position to take any new decisions, however, he agreed with the Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams to stick to the agreements made in 2006 prior to dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles. Wescot Williams said she informed her counterparts that St. Maarten is bound by the agreements of 2006 and therefore it is the only way forward. She said they also agreed that the operations of the Central Bank are not up to par and as such they have committed themselves to do their part as shareholder representatives.
Prime Minister Wescot Williams also informed members of the media of the two countries that they have decided that an operational audit of the Central Bank must be conducted and they will insist that the Supervisory Board of the Central Bank approve the Central Bank budget for the year 2012. The two shareholder representatives also agreed that a permanent seventh member of the supervisory board has to be appointed and St. Maarten will follow the letter of the law when it comes to the appointment of that person. Wescot Williams said article 25 of the Central Bank charter clearly states how the appointment of supervisory board members should take place.
St. Maarten's Prime Minister said they also took keen note on the loss of confidence between the Government of Curacao and the President of the Central Bank and St. Maarten has agreed to take that in to consideration during their follow up meetings.
St. Maarten's Finance Minister Roland Tuitt said that it is necessary to have an operational audit of the Central Bank and depending on the outcome of that audit they can move on to conduct an audit on someone's integrity. Tuitt said that things have to be done step by step for the shareholders to determine the exact problems of the Central Bank.
Minister Tuitt said they way things are right now it's all mixed up and the Supervisory Board will be instructed to do things step by step to be more successful. Tuitt also set the record straight regarding the one hundred million guilder loan St. Maarten is seeking to obtain to execute projects for the people of St. Maarten. He made clear that the Central Bank is mandated to do the preliminary procedures for St. Maarten.
The two shareholders also insisted that the Central Bank branch on St. Maarten must be upgraded.
