Country Report St Maarten 2nd Quarter
The Economist Intelligence Unit, June 2012, Pages: 21
A newly formed coalition government between the National Alliance (NA, five seats), the Democratic Party (DP, two seats) and three independent deputies controls ten out of fifteen seats in the Staten (the legislature). Headed by the prime minister, Sarah Wescot-Williams, it will maintain political stability in the forecast period. The government will struggle to build the nation's fledgling institutions, especially its monetary framework. The government's accounts will remain under the supervision of the Dutch College Financieel Toezicht (CFT, the financial supervision council) in the forecast period. The fiscal accounts will remain in deficit throughout the outlook period. Weak economic growth will undermine its attempts at fiscal reform. Unpopular austerity measures will test the strength of the governing coalition. Sint Maarten is set to build its own central bank after Curacao's parliament voted to dissolve the bi-national Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten (the joint Central Bank). This will create substantial monetary policy uncertainty in the forecast period. The Netherlands Antilles guilder is likely to be replaced in 2012 by a Caribbean guilder, or as Sint Maarten prefers, the US dollar. Global weakening and attempts to tighten the fiscal policy stance will cause growth in Sint Maarten to slow again in 2012. The current-account deficit is set to widen further.
The governing UP-NA coalition collapsed in April but a new government, headed once again by Ms Wescot-Williams of the NA, was formed in May. The new coalition, which consists of the NA-DP and three independent deputies, commands a two-thirds majority in the legislature.
The government continues to experience substantial delays in the financial reporting process. Available figures indicate that the government generated Naf103.9m (US$58m) in revenue in the third quarter of 2011, of which Naf74.2m was tax revenue.
Industry List: Agriculture and food production, Energy, Mining (excluding oil and gas), Financial Services, Travel and Tourism
Industry Codes (NAIC): 11;212;22;52;72
Industry Codes (SIC): 1;10;49;60;70
Country Report St Maarten 2nd Quarter
Summary
Outlook for 2012-13
The political scene
Economic policy
The domestic economy
Foreign trade and payments
Basic data
Land area
Population
Main town
Climate
Weather
Language
Measures
Currency
Time
Public holidays
Political structure
Official name
Form of government
The executive
Head of state
National legislature
Legal system
Elections
Government
Main political organisations
Key ministers
Central Bank president
Economic structure: Annual indicators
Economic structure: Quarterly indicators
Outlook for 2012-13: Political stability
Outlook for 2012-13: Election watch
Outlook for 2012-13: International relations
Outlook for 2012-13: Policy trends
Outlook for 2012-13: Economic growth
Outlook for 2012-13: Inflation
Outlook for 2012-13: Exchange rate
Outlook for 2012-13: External sector
The political scene: The UP joins the opposition bench
Economic policy: Fiscal data remain extremely scarce
The domestic economy: Proxy indicators continue to point to weak growth
The domestic economy: Inflation continues to rise
Foreign trade and payments: The current-account deficit widens further
The region: Summary
Outlook for 2012-13
Recent developments
The region: Weak economic growth will result in volatility
The region: Crime will remain a destabilising force
The region: Regional integration will remain an elusive goal
The region: Public-sector debt levels will remain worryingly high
The region: Soft US and UK demand will continue to affect tourism
The region: Resource-based investments will recover only slowly
The region: A loss of preferences will hurt the region's agriculture sector
The region: Financial-sector performance will vary across the region
The region: A Caricom report underscores the crisis facing regional body
The region: Tourist arrivals figures show improvement
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