According to Minister of Finance Perry Geerling St Maarten ONLY has fls. 25-30 million guilders in liquidity, or cash available.
Tourism Minister Stuart Johnson feels that although times are rough, workers are entitled to a bonus or what he called a 13 month check. He he stated that he would be submitting a financial request to Geerlings later in the afternoon. He said that it was a ‘surprise’, and that there might be more surpises to come.
Geerlings, clearly upset, seemed to perceive Minister Johnson’s statement about the request as some type of election stunt.
He said that Ministers usually approach each other in private, not blurt it out at a press briefing, after he had just made it clear how little cash was available.
Geerlings then reiterated that since hurricane Irma in 2017, St Maarten was in a deficit and still is. 25 – 30 million guilders is not good at all.
Finance Minister Perry Geerlings then tried to explain to Lindon, a reporter ….that St Maarten has been in dire financial straits since 2017, and that’s not going away anytime soon.
Tourism Minister Stuart Johnson then stated that he would ‘dumb it down’ for Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings, the way he did in Parliament. Stuart believes there should be an end of year bonus for workers, and Geerlings was just rubbing his eyes in frustration.
There are also more question and answer video coming up. Minister Smith answers questions about the upcoming elections and community officers at the schools.
Questions about PJIA’s financial woes, the prison situation and the Middle Region shooting
[wpvideo zvHsQKCe]
[wpvideo q4br5ZPj]
[wpvideo jchbUBuq]
[wpvideo QtI5cBqt]