Dear Editor,
Earlier on I expressed already my concerns about this topic. See letters to the editor on April 5, 2019, called “Consider and decide asap” and April 12, 2019, called “Let us not wait until it’s too late”.
The reason to write again is the recent warning report from International Monetary Fund (IMF) June 7, 2019, about our currency. The report indicates – if you read well – that the solid connection between US dollar and NAf. (1=1.80) already is under pressure and that urgent additional measures are needed to keep it up this way. Part of the findings I have copied below for you to read. I have underscored the most important part related to this topic.
This topic is important to know for all who do not like to see prices increasing here on St. Maarten with 10-15 per cent soon related – among others – to: most of the imported goods (as food and medicine), the debts of existing (study) loans abroad, the cost of study abroad or traveling abroad. This is the consequence if the solid connection between US dollar and NAf. cannot be kept anymore (devaluation).
Here some extracts of the findings of IMF cited.
“Curaçao is facing the fourth year of recession as its economy has been hit by spill-overs from the Venezuela crisis. The spill-overs are exposing long-standing structural challenges and weaknesses in public finances and contribute to external vulnerabilities. Curaçao’s ongoing recession since 2016 deepened in 2018 due to continued spill-overs from the crisis in Venezuela. GDP declined by an estimated 2¾ percent in 2018, bringing the cumulative contraction in the past 3 years to 5½ percent. Declines in refining, oil trans-shipment, and related services were the main contributors. The external current account deficit to nearly 29 percent of GDP and pushed up inflation. Historically strong trade linkages with Venezuela dropped sharply.
“The outlook is subject to significant downside risks – a permanent shutdown of the refinery would deepen the recession considerably and exert significant pressure on public finances via higher social spending. The inflow of undocumented Venezuelan immigrants is generating additional pressure on public finances.
“Central government debt increased from about 51 percent of GDP in 2016 to close to 55 percent of GDP in 2018. The authorities have elaborated plans to restore economic growth and improve public finances. As a result, the stock of government debt would increase to 62 percent of GDP by 2024. Reaching the authorities’ objective of a balanced budget by 2021 would require not only strong implementation of existing plans but also some additional measures. Whereas this gap could be partially filled by better revenue administration and stronger expenditure controls, new measures are likely to be needed.
“The large external current account deficit in Curaçao is a significant vulnerability and requires urgent attention. The deficit, together with excess liquidity in the banking system, poses risks for the Union’s reserves, which have declined from 3.8 to 3.5 months of projected imports of goods and services between December 2018 and mid-May 2019. The Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten is considering options for addressing the excess liquidity and has requested IMF technical assistance in this area. Fiscal adjustment would help reduce the external current account deficit although a strong structural reform is required to increase exports and reduce the deficit more durably. It is important to take steps to bolster medium-term external sustainability. It is very important to follow through on economy-wide structural reforms to support potential growth and increase exports.”
(C) IMF: Main Conclusions of the IMF Staff Visit, June 7, 2019
Please, representatives of the people of St. Maarten, do not wait until it is too late. The solid connection between US dollar and NAf. can only be kept if the Curaçao government is able to act with implementation and execution soon of important changes to improve the balance. As said before in my previous letter: St. Maarten cannot do much about solving the problems Curaçao has and that makes us very dependent on how the government of Curaçao is willing and/or able to act soon. It is a huge challenge and one can wonder if Curaçao is able to fix this fast as needed.
If not then we face inevitably devaluation and the resulting price increases unless … the monetary union will be split up and St. Maarten goes its own way.
This asks for bringing this topic on the political agenda soon and asks for speedy decision-making.
Geert B. van der Leest
Dear Editor,
What is food safety? Food safety is the absence – or safe, acceptable levels – of hazards in food that may harm the health of consumers. Food-borne hazards can be microbiological, chemical or physical in nature and are often invisible to the plain eye: bacteria, viruses or pesticide residues are some examples.
Food safety has a critical role in assuring that food stays safe at every stage of the food chain – from production to harvest, processing, storage, distribution, all the way to preparation and consumption.
With an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies, disproportionally affecting vulnerable and marginalized people, especially women and children, populations affected by conflict, and migrants. An estimated three million people around the world – in developed and developing countries – die every year from food and waterborne disease.
Food is the starting point for our energy, our health and our well-being. We often take for granted that it is safe, but in an increasingly complex and interconnected world where food value chains are growing longer, standards and regulations are that much more important in keeping us safe.
The theme of this year’s Food Safety Day: “Food Safety, Everyone’s Business” invites us to recognize that food safety is everyone’s business. The way in which food is produced, stored, handled and consumed affects the safety of our food.
Complying with global food standards, establishing effective regulatory food control systems, including emergency preparedness and response; providing access to clean water; applying good agriculture practices (terrestrial, aquatic, livestock, horticulture); strengthening the use of food safety management systems by food business operators; and building capacities of consumers to make healthy food choices are some ways in which governments, international organizations, scientists, the private sector and civil society work to ensure food safety.
Food safety is key to achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals and World Food Safety Day brings it into the spotlight to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks. Safe food contributes to economic prosperity, boosting agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development.
* Goal 1 – there is no food security without food safety. Ending hunger is about all people having access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
* Goal 2 – Food safety has a direct impact on people’s health and nutritional intake. Foodborne diseases are preventable.
* Goal 3 – when countries strengthen their regulatory, scientific and technological capacities to ensure that food is safe and of the expected quality throughout the food chain, they move towards more sustainable patterns of food production and consumption.
* Goal 4 – a globalized world with annual food exports currently in excess of US $1.6 trillion and complex food systems demands international cooperation across sectors to ensure food is safe. Food safety is a shared responsibility among governments, food industries, producers and consumers.
Keeping food safe is a complex process that starts on the farm and ends with the consumer. All stages of the food chain, from production, harvest and storage to preparation and consumption, must be considered. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is the only international organization overseeing food safety along all aspects of the food chain.
Through a longstanding partnership, FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO) support global food safety and protect consumers’ health. FAO generally addresses food safety issues along the food chain during production and processing, while WHO typically oversees relationships with the public health sector.
Safeguarding food so that it is safe to eat does not stop with its purchase, though. At home, consumers have a part to play in making sure that what they eat remains safe.
Cognizant of the urgent need to raise awareness at all levels and to promote and facilitate actions for global food safety, the General Assembly of the UN decided in December 2018 to designate June 7 as World Food Safety Day.
International days are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity. The existence of international days predates the establishment of the United Nations, but the UN has embraced them as a powerful advocacy tool.
Dr. Earl Best,
Inspector General, Ministry of Health VSA
Dear Editor,
I often meet persons who say they are not hearing me and that I am too quiet. I have also heard it said by some that I talk too much. These are things that are part of the political culture which I have learnt to accept. There are many reasons for writing this article which I will articulate briefly. It is said that repetition is important as this allows your point to be remembered. But sometimes I wonder.
Dear Editor,
I, the undersigned, would like to let the people of St. Maarten know this. Any time someone is doing the right thing in St. Maarten he is no good.
Why are the people picking on Mr. Lee? They don’t see the good of this man. If he could do more he would. But you know it is not like in Mr. Claude Wathey’s days when he could give you a piece of brown paper and help you to feed your children or pay your water bill and light.
If you just help someone you are buying votes. You can’t even speak to your sister and brothers, you are money-laundering or you are taking bribery. When is this going to stop?
You give a man a fishing line and a boat and he will learn how to fish. That is what Mr. Lee is doing – you can go back to school and learn a trade and you can get work to help build back the island.
Yes, what he says is true: the people take advantage of people who come on the island; they don’t give them a payslip, no doctor card, they get sick they can’t take them nowhere because they don’t have a payslip. When the Minister says it is wrong they get angry; he is no good. But he tells the truth.
If he could have put up all the people without homes he would have done that. The shelter that they have in Sucker Garden they help the people to get a place to put their heads. Nobody speaks about it.
Please, people of St. Maarten, open your eyes. Mr. Lee does a good job and I would like the people to check there are so many things that he would like to do.
But again it has to do with the leader. The Dutch, they want to lock up all the leaders. If you help someone you are buying votes. Paul in the Bible used to do the same thing to the followers of Jesus and I know the prosecutor and the judge do the same.
Thank God that the people of St. Maarten are peaceful people or this city is on fire. When Mr. Wathey said “People, be careful with the Dutch” nobody heard. They did not listen. It took a hurricane to fool them and this is what we get.
I see that my two friends have gone dumb. I don’t hear them anymore. Where are they, on vacation?
Thanks again for Mr. Lee. He looks out for the people, he doesn’t care what color they are, what party they are in, he has a job to do and he does it well. He doesn’t sit in the office only; he drives around to see what happens to people.
Please, in the name of Jesus, people, stop people, stop the fighting and put your hands in Jesus’ hands. Get to the play let’s get things done.
A next thing I see happening in St. Maarten: everybody want to be the leader. It is almost 2 years after Irma and who has the Government really helped? World Bank, thanks to the Red Cross Mr. Franker. I who don’t have a home, I help people, give them a bath, put clean clothes on them.
The people that walk on the street go on the boardwalk and you will see what happens. How sad it is.
I wish that the people would open their eyes and understand what happens. You see what they do to Theo, France, Mingo and Oneil, and there is a lot more that they are after. They feel that St. Maarten people are living good so they have to make us beggars. They say we are kipen and wonning in kippenhokkee. But when they came and see big homes, you are money-laundering people of St. Maarten.
Hold on God’s hands, give Him your all and He will see us through.
I know how it feels when you are homeless; if anyone needs help with a bath and clean clothes, check me out on the Sucker Garden main road.
God Bless Mr. Lee
Avril Gumbs
Dear Editor,
Foundation Nos Ke Boneiru Bek (We Want Bonaire Back) recently went to our sister islands, Aruba and Curaçao, on a mission of information and raising awareness and to solicit support and solidarity and also funding, to contribute to the struggle and trajectory to re-enlist Bonaire back on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories.
Both in Curaçao and Aruba, fruitful meetings were held with various influential leaders and political and civil society organizations, all of whom showed their concerns for the alarming situation of Bonaire after the constitutional re-structure of 10-10-10.
On both islands, what was very remarkable was that, up to today, the majority of the people of the 2 islands are under the impression that we, ourselves, the Bonerian people, have chosen and want what we are suffering and going through now. However, brotherhood and compassion were shown and that they are in solidarity with the Bonaire people and will monitor the developments from close by and in the future, when needed, will reach out to our people.
On Curaçao, Foundation NKBB together with the Movement Kousa Prome, led by Mr. Rene Rosalia, have realized an accord of cooperation that had been initialized last December with the objective to unite forces and continue to work together in the Caribbean Progressive Alliance(CPA). The CPA alliance was founded by Mr. James Finies, president of Foundation Nos Kier Boneiru Bek (We Want Bonaire Back), in Sint Maarten in March, 2017.
Simultaneously the organizations Brighter Path Foundation and Progressive Labor Party of Sint Eustatius and The Independence Sint Maarten Foundation of Sint Maarten joined the Alliance. Today, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, Archipelago San Andres, Providencia, Santa Catalina, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Grenada are now members.
The ultimate objective of the CPA is to support and cooperate in the struggle to self-determination of the islands. The similar objective that Kousa Prome wants to realize for Curaçao; to support and cooperate to end the five (5) consensus laws, and to respect the vision and spirit of the U.N. Charter, in the same way as it respects the treaty of Lisbon regarding the European Union and to implement the U.N. Charter to self-determination of our peoples.
On Aruba, Foundation NKBB has achieved the same success to broaden the front of the Antilles and Caribbean cooperation alliance with the organizations Group of 7, led by Mr. Rocky Kelly and with the Status Territorium Platform, led by Mr. Orlando Croes.
The objectives that these organizations call for Aruba to realize are: to support and cooperate to evaluate and if possible, offer a discussion about the possible change of the Constitution of Aruba to enforce our Constitutional Laws in the Dutch Kingdom; to support and cooperate, to demand equal treatment from Holland for Aruba as equal partners in the Dutch Kingdom; to support and cooperate with the Caribbean people in their struggle for self-determination; and to fight colonialism and all kinds of discrimination in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Foundation NKBB looks back on the very successful mission to our sister islands, Aruba and Curaçao, and is very proud that the front of cooperation between the islands, the Caribbean.
James Finies
