Though still a suspect, Member of Parliament Silvio Matser’s release (see related story) is obviously welcome news for himself, his family, relatives, friends and sympathisers. It also could be good for the country by restoring the Coalition of Eight’s minimal
majority at least temporarily, so that Parliament can adopt Finance Minister Richard Gibson’s “shotgun budget” already 2½ months into the year
This is crucial for obvious reasons, including Government being allowed to borrow funds for the financing of much-needed capital investments. The current opposition recently referred to as Super Seven no longer will be able to delay the process by withholding support and/or requiring amendments.
St. Maarten has not had a ratified budget since 2014, because efforts to save the 2015 version were abandoned late last year to focus on submitting a sustainable one for 2016 instead. The importance of such was fittingly illustrated by Wednesday’s report that the Kingdom Council of Ministers has approved a US $100 million loan for Aruba.
The latter is actually a remarkable achievement, taking into account that not too long ago Prime Minister Mike Eman (AVP) held a hunger strike after Governor Fredis Refunjol – with backing from The Hague – had refused to sign the 2015 budget into law because it was considered unrealistic and irresponsible. Agreement ultimately was reached on financial supervision similar to that introduced for Curaçao and St. Maarten when the former Netherlands Antilles was dismantled per 10-10-10.
Aruba’s committee in charge of such CAFT gave a positive advice for the loan needed to refinance the country’s debts. This was based on improvements made under the new Finance Minister Angel Bermudez, who is now also one of the candidates to become the next governor.
So while its differences with the Dutch Government regarding public finances reached crisis mode, the Eman Cabinet in the end “did what it had to” and is now in a position to significantly reduce the loan and interest payments burden on the budget. Clearly, that was in the best general long-term interest of the country currently celebrating 40 years of its own anthem and flag as well as the 30th anniversary of separate status.
