Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs in Parliament on Friday.
PHILIPSBURG--Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs presented Parliament with an addendum to the Ennia Outline Agreement on Friday and urged Members of Parliament (MPs) to approve the amended agreement, which she said will save the country approximately NAf. 37 million in comparison to the agreement inked by the former government.
The addendum stated that St. Maarten will not be paying for Ennia’s Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (BES) policy holders; will not be paying for Ennia’s Suriname policy holders; will not be paying for Ennia’s operational expenses and that St Maarten agrees to saving only its policy holders.
The addendum further stated that St Maarten will receive priority in purchasing Mullet Bay and that there will be a separate administration for St. Maarten and the country will receive an annual report by an external accountant on St. Maarten’s portion of the resolution fund. This report will be provided annually on April 1.
Also stated in the addendum is that St. Maarten will have a separate peak facility to prevent any mixing of expenses and St. Maarten will save millions in interest expenses due to its limited use of the peak facility.
Gumbs told MPs that these changes will ensure that St. Maarten is covering the policy-holders of St. Maarten only and not the entity Ennia.
She said the financial saving for St. Maarten that would be achieved via this addendum is NAf. 37 million. This saving represents NAf. 5 million saved by not covering BES and Suriname policyholders, NAf. 15 million saved by not covering the operational expenses of Ennia, NAf. 14 million saved by reduction in expenses and hence a positive cash balance at the end and NAf. 3 million saved in interest due to separate peak facility and limited use of peak facility.
“The total savings for St. Maarten amount to NAf. 37 million, which represents approximately 30% savings from the initial outline agreement. While these savings may not be as significant for Curaçao, they are highly significant for St. Maarten. This ensures that we, St. Maarten, while not benefiting from the continuation of the Ennia group, are focusing solely on protecting our own policyholders,” said the Minister.
“Furthermore, it guarantees that we will not be saving Ennia as a company, only contributing to our policyholders while also ensuring that St. Maarten will have first priority in purchasing the prime location that of Mullet Bay. All things considered, your positive decision towards this addendum would indicate you choosing St. Maarten and putting its people first,” she told MPs.
Gumbs made the presentation during the continuation of a meeting of Parliament on the Ennia Outline Agreement. She returned to Parliament to answer questions posed by MPs and presented the addendum.
She told MPs that in the agreement signed by the previous government in October 2023, it was stated that if St Maarten does not have an agreement on the Ennia saga prior to October 2024, the country would be subjected to NAf. 10.6 million interest, of which the interest rate is 3.4% but will go to 6.8% in 2025; 10 million in repayment of loans; the total of NAf. 20.6 million due in October 2024.
However, if an Ennia solution is found, NAf. 9.1 million in interest will apply; NAf. 2 million in repayment of loans totalling NAf. 11.1 million that will be due in October 2024. “As such the financial effects of not finding a solution which the previous government signed off on would result in an additional 9.5 million guilders to be paid in 2024 and an additional 12.6 million guilders yearly in interest on top of the already-agreed-on yearly 9 million guilders which totals a yearly interest of 21 million guilders on the COVID loans if no Ennia solution is found,” she said.
“It is very important to note that the signed refinancing agreement by the previous government explicitly states that no discussions or negotiations can be held regarding the interest rate of the COVID loans when signing the long-term refinancing agreement. This is why I have consistently emphasised that, while I do not agree with the linkage between the COVID loans and the Ennia solution, the previous government of St. Maarten signed an agreement linking the two and prohibiting any discussions about the interest rates, which will increase if no Ennia solution is found.”
Gumbs said her main goal had been to ensure that this solution is as beneficial as possible to St. Maarten. “I remain very clear on this: yes, I want to protect St. Maarten’s policyholders, but no, St. Maarten will not save Ennia as an entity. Upon receiving more information, I discovered that, under the signed outline agreement, we were paying for more than just our policyholders. We were also paying for BES policyholders, Suriname policyholders and Ennia’s operational expenses.
“Keep in mind, Ennia is a company based in Curaçao with approximately 150 employees and all taxes and social premiums are paid to Curaçao,” she said.
She questioned whether St. Maarten is receiving a share of those taxes. “Are they planning to increase the number of employees at the St. Maarten Ennia office? No. So why should we bear the expenses related to Ennia’s operations if we are not benefiting from its continuation? When I asked what benefits St. Maarten was receiving, with regard to Mullet Bay I was told that none were provided – because St. Maarten, previous government, did not ask for any,” she made clear.
