PHILIPSBURG:— The Government of St. Maarten has learned via the media that the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) of the Netherlands will be paying the much-needed NAf 39 million of liquidity support to St. Maarten as soon as possible. Government has taken note of a letter sent on June 17, by caretaker State Secretary Knops to the Chairlady of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament of his intentions to pay out the 5th tranche of liquidity support.
Though government has not received this decision via official channels, the letter stated that Sint Maarten had worked diligently to restore good governance and acted decisively enough to ensure the successful progress of the reconstruction project within recent weeks. A positive opinion of the Royal Schiphol Group (RSG) in relation to the steps taken by St. Maarten was also taken into consideration according to the letter.
Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs stated, “The government of St. Maarten looks forward to receiving the much-needed liquidity support which will be disbursed to St. Maarten. This will ensure the continuity of the St. Maarten Stimulus and Relief Plan (SSRP) payroll support in order for persons to still receive the subsidy to their salaries.”
The government remains with its stance that the caretaker State Secretary with the support of the Kingdom Council of Ministers made improper use of the measure used to delay the much-needed funds as St. Maarten had met all the conditions for the 5th tranche. Nonetheless, this recent decision takes away the tension that would exist as persons were not able to receive their funds to meet their own obligations for the past two months.
In regard to the 2nd implementation agenda, the Monitoring Committee established to oversee the execution of the country reform package for St. Maarten has advised for the use of realistic deadlines as some ministries require additional support in the coordination and execution of the measures. It is important that the deadlines agreed to in the implementation agendas are realistic and feasible given the government’s available resources. As such, the government of St. Maarten and the Temporary Working Organization (TWO) have agreed for the established deadlines to be adjusted and included in the 2nd implementation agenda which is scheduled to be executed from July until September 2021.
