Philipsburg – Today, February 4, St. Maarten was granted the approval to deviate from article 25 Rft
to be able to ratify its justifiable deficit budget. This decision was approved during the Kingdom
Council of Ministers (RMR) meeting held in The Hague based on the positive advice as presented by
BZK. The deviation to which the Committee of Financial Supervision (CFT) had advised positively
since the end of November 2021, was the first point on the agenda for today. Government lived up to
its legal obligation to submit the budget and to request deviation based on the national budget’s
deficit caused by the disasters the country has been facing from 2017 until present. The deviation
was granted to St. Maarten under the conditions as provided in the law which include the
incorporation of the recommendations of the C(A)ft in the budget and the submission of all loans for
ordinary service to the RMR for approval.
During the Parliamentary debate in January 2022, the budgetary trajectory was explained by Prime
Minister Silveria E. Jacobs who expressed that official confirmation had been received from State
Secretary Alexandra Van Huffelen to have the deviation handled as an agenda point in the RMR
meeting that was scheduled for today. As such, it was imperative that Parliament did its due
diligence in debating and approving the draft 2022 national budget.
Yesterday, February 3, government received the final documents of the approved legislation related
to the budget from Parliament, paving the way for the Ministry of Finance to incorporate all
approved amendments brought in by government and parliament over the next week. Upon
completion of the approved amendments, the final version will be vetted by the secretariat of
parliament and can be sent to the governor for ratification. Once contra-signed by Government, the
legislation to establish it is enacted and published.
Based on government’s preparations, the budget process should be finalized by mid-February in
order for the government to continue living up to its obligations to the people of St. Maarten.
“With the granting of the deviation, the government is now working on finalizing the budgetary
trajectory to ensure that our monthly obligations to the country can be met. As such, I must
commend State Secretary Van Huffelen for living up to the responsibility of ensuring this point was
not linked to any conditions not mentioned in the law,” stated Prime Minister Jacobs.
