Nation Books Growth in Various Economic Sectors
The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams and the Minister of Finance Martin Hassink received a presentation on the 2012 Annual Report of the Central Bank of St. Maarten and Curacao from Director Dr. Emsley Tromp at the A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall on Wednesday.
Mr. Tromp, accompanied by numerous support staff and Central Bank of St. Maarten and Curacao Officials, presented information to both Ministers regarding the Monetary Union, the state of the Gross Domestic Product of both Curacao and St. Maarten, the Inflation Rate, the Performance of the various sectors of both islands and the general Economic Growth and Development.
With regards to St. Maarten, Dr. Tromp presented that the Country experienced a 1.5% growth rate and a general decrease in the inflation rate. The presentation also outlined that there was an increase in stay over tourism and an improvement in the performance of the Service Industry. St. Maarten also saw growth in both the wholesale and retail as well as in the utilities sectors, which altogether combined resulted in an improvement in total net income. Dr. Tromp also highlighted that, with the increased economic growth, the actual growth rate of the Economy was higher than that of Curacao.
Dr. Tromp also explained that there are positive steps with regards to Governments ongoing broadening of Administrative Institutions and that the steps being undertaken to diversify the St. Maarten economy from only relying on the Tourism industry has also been moving forward, with various sectors seeing an improvement.
The Prime Minister commented that the presentation was well received and that Government will continue the steps it has been taken to ensure economic growth for Country St. Maarten.