Oranjestad – The Board of financial supervision Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (Cft) met on 26 June in St. Eustatius with the newly appointed Executive Council and the members of the new Island Council. During the meeting the troublesome financial situation of the public entity and how this can be restored as soon as possible were discussed. Parties also talked about establishing an expert group to get the financial management order. Chairman Age Bakker stated that the priority now is to get adopted financial statements for 2014 and a balanced budget for 2015.
Implementation 2015 budget
The most recent execution report shows that without intervention Sint Eustatius is heading for a deficit by the end of 2015 which may reach approximately USD 0.9 million. Although the 2014 financial statements have not yet been adopted, the expectation is that a deficit has been realized over 2014. It is therefore necessary for the public entity Sint Eustatius to adopt a comprehensive package of measures within the existing budget in order to achieve a balanced budget, in accordance with the previous Cft advice. This has also been stipulated in the instruction given by the Ministry of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK). It was agreed that these measures will be taken on in a budget amendment that will be adopted no later than September 1st. In case Cft has sufficient confidence, the Board will then advise preceding supervision based on this budget amendment instead of the current obligations stop, which will be in force until that time.
Financial management
The Cft has also discussed the current status the financial management is in, just as has been stipulated in the instruction given by the minister. It has been agreed that an expert group will be established, composed of an independent expert and representatives of the public entity, the Kingdom Representative and the CFT. This expert group will draw up an action plan before September 1st. This action plan will be included in the action plan which is focused on the administrative situation of the public entity which will be established by a steering committee chaired by the Kingdom Representative.