PHILIPSBURG--The draft 2016 budget has been approved by the William Marlin Cabinet. The draft budget will now head to the Council of Advice for its comments.
Following the review of that Council, the Cabinet will make adjustments, if any, and send the draft budget to Governor Eugene Holiday for submission to Parliament.
Prime Minister Marlin told the press on Wednesday that they hope to have the handling of the draft budget in Parliament at the end of next month or early February 2016. Government was given the deadline of January 31 by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT to establish the budget.
The country’s budget for the coming year, by law, should have already been established by Parliament. However, the Coalition of Eight, via Finance Minister Richard Gibson, requested more time to get it balanced and in conformity with the Kingdom Law on Temporary Financial Supervision for Curaçao and St. Maarten, upon taking office on November 19.
Gibson announced on December 23 that the draft 2016 budget stands at NAf. 435 million and is balanced thanks to “some acrobatic moves.”
Aiding the budget is that the Receiver’s Office is now being properly mandated to collect long outstanding casino fees via a national decree signed by Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication Irania Arrindell. A total of NAf. 13 million is outstanding, but the draft budget only conservatively takes into account the collection of NAf. 10 million.
Gibson warned that a budget is “a projection” so steps will have to be taken to make certain all seven ministries follow the laid-out path and not deviate from it. “We have to make a dent in that mountain of debt we have built up,” he said to emphasise his point about sticking to the budget and not overspending.
