PHILIPSBURG--The revised draft 2019 budget is now with Parliament.
This second draft was received via the Cabinet of the Governor on March 4 and is in the process of being scanned into Parliament’s system for Members of Parliament to access, Parliament Chairwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams told MPs during a Central Committee sitting on justice matters on Wednesday.
Asked about the draft budget in the Council of Ministers press briefing earlier on Wednesday, Finance Minister Perry Geerlings said the version of the budget sent to Parliament in November 2018 will be “retracted” and replaced by this new version.
The retraction is necessary because the original version with total expenditures of NAf. 503 million did not meet the approval of the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT. Negotiations between the Geerlings and CFT have seen the expenditures reduced to NAf. 478 million. CFT had wanted the expenditures at NAf. 475 million.
The draft budget is still unbalanced due to the continued effects of the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma.
