PHILIPSBURG--Finance Minister Ardwell Irion is taking steps to correct some situations that were left unaddressed by previous governments.
One such correction being made is paying Social and Health Insurances SZV the amount that it is rightfully due on a monthly basis. Irion explained that government has been paying SZV about NAf 3.8 million per month which is about NAf. 700,000 too little, a situation which has persisted for many years.
“This government has made a decision to stop the bleeding and we have now started to pay the amount that we have to pay dealing with the OZR [fund- Ed.],” Irion said during the live Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday.
“That was just decision making; and with regards to – and again – these are all touchy subjects and areas, but it is also the reality… the civil servant’s contribution – legally as civil servants, we were supposed to contribute 10 per cent to the funds which government has been covering for the last 10 years or more, for sure the last 10 years. This also increased our debt to SZV over the last 10 years and no one addressed this for political reasons or the sensitivity of it, but at the end of the day, because it was not addressed, we have reached this point.
“Luckily though, this government is addressing that with the Council of Ministers, we have looked for different solutions to be able to fill this gap – stop the bleeding and be able to lower the debt going forward.”
He also alluded to the financial statements for the years 2014, 2015, 2016 ,2017 2018 and 2019, which were never completed and which the sitting government has to complete in a short time.
“This government now has to do this within two years which is a task that we are doing and we will complete. We are hoping to have all our financial statements up to date by next year… Again, this is a task that this government has to go back and fix for the last few years, in addition to dealing with the COVID, in addition to dealing with our current financial statements and liquidity issues, but a task that we did not run from,” said the Finance Minister.
