PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — St. Maarten has a balanced budget for 2017, announced Minister of Finance Richard Gibson at the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday. “For the first time in history, St. Maarten has presented a balanced budget for 2017 according to the stipulations in the law.
That budget has been presented to the Council of Ministers and it has been passed (Tuesday) by the Council of Ministers,” he said. The minister disclosed that budget ceiling is at NAf. 450,000,000. He also disclosed that they have not cut any subsidies to organizations and these have been restored to the levels they were before.
The minister said this shows St. Maarten is on the right path and is prepared to do the right things. “These requirements are meant to show that you are busy with good governance; show that you are in control of the management of your finances, and to show that you have a path that you are following to be able to continue on a path to get to complete financial health,” the minister said.
He thanked all those in his department who have been working for the past few months to complete this task.
