Dear Editor,
I’ve never lived nor visited any other country, and didn’t see its currency. The situation here on St. Maarten is completely different, because the American dollar is so dominant. It’s amazing that the Caribbean guilder has been in circulation for 9 solid months and it’s a currency that I rarely see. What is the logic behind this mystery?
I grew up with the American currency, and so it has been commonplace for me, throughout my entire life. But it is incredible that the former Antillean guilder, which was depleted in volume (as declared), was so much more in circulation than this Caribbean guilder that I see once in a blue moon. Sometimes I don't even remember that there is a new currency, because I don’t see it. So, when I do, I hoard it, to add to my coin collection.
Imagine, 9 consecutive months have passed since this “official” currency of the Dutch side was introduced, and I’ve only seen the 5-guilder piece just once. I’ve never seen the Cg 200 note, the 1c nor the 50c. Maybe I’ve seen the Cg10 note three times. But what is very alarming to me is that out of all the Cg coins that I’ve collected, the majority have the island of Curaçao on them. Sometimes I feel as if I’m living in Curaçao, and not on St. Maarten.
Another thing, maybe a month after the money was introduced, I saw the 25c, 10c and 5c. After that, I saw them perhaps once or twice and that was it. So again, where is the new currency? Why is it that the supermarkets are not giving us back our change in guilders? They just automatically reach for the dollars. Every time, we the customers asked for our change in the currency that was given to these merchants, they said that they don’t have guilders. And we just have to accept it.
I am asking the question again, because it concerns me deeply. Where are the guilders? This is a serious situation! In fact, it looks more like a predicament to me. Because, if the supermarkets are not giving the customers back the guilders, then what are they doing with them? Do they have their own secret banks? If they do, how does this situation affect the circulation of the currency and the economy?
The discussion may tilt towards the assumption that more persons are using online banking. That assertion is possible, but the customers were having the same complaint during the time that the Antillean guilder was around. The only difference is that the intensity to repress the Cg, has multiplied. Then the question is: What is the real reason behind this action, and how can any government tolerate this behaviour, where one sector of the economy is dictating how our currency is being spent?
Right here, is a classic example of how dangerous it is to be consistently issuing business licenses to a specific group that dominates a vital component of this economy.
Currently, our government is going down a very slippery road, with the abyss right at the bottom. Because, when a sector of the economy is dictation how our currency is being spent, then government has lost control of the economy and its political power. No wonder they say that St. Maarten is a not a real place.
Joslyn Morton
