Adaptations to proposed measures in approach expected
Honourable Minister of Finance Hiro Shigemoto says the agreed upon general approach with the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT to have a joint plan comprising of the measures, will be discussed in the Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday, and some of the proposed measures will have to be adapted.
Once the Council of Ministers decides on the measures, they will be forwarded to the Council of Advice and thereafter to Parliament, according to the Minister in line with an agreed upon joint approach which is being diligently pursued.
"The CFT advice presented whereby the CFT advised that the 2011 budget in its opinion still had not fully subscribed to the norms of financial supervision based on the Kingdom Consensus Law, the CFT could have sent a negative advice to the Kingdom Council of Ministers on Sint Maarten’s 2011 resulting in the Kingdom Council of Ministers coming with instructions as to how to solve the perceived budget deficit, but we are still in a process of dialogue which is the preference of the CFT and Sint Maarten and we have four weeks to resolve the perceived budget deficit," Hon. Minister of Finance Hiro Shigemoto pointed out on Sunday.
Minister Shigemoto added, "Before we reach the process of possible Kingdom Council of Ministers intervention, this too has a process to follow in which Sint Maarten would receive up to a one-month timeframe to elucidate and/or substantiate its position on the budget and eventually in the process the Kingdom Council of Ministers could come with specific instructions on how to solve the problem.
"The CFT and I have chosen to come to a joint agreement with Sint Maarten’s Council of Ministers on a plan of approach on how to come to a balanced budget for 2011 and present this plan with the CFT advice to the Kingdom Council of Ministers," Hon. Minister of Finance Shigemoto concluded on Sunday.
The Minister met with the CFT last week Wednesday in Curacao.