IEDOM Director Thierry Beltrand (far left) talks during the meeting with President Louis Mussington. Also present were Chef du Cabinet Junisa Gumbs, Assistant Director General (DGA) François Xavier Binvel of the Economic Development Department and Director of Statistics and Socio-Economic Prospects Laurent Fuentes.
MARIGOT--President Louis Mussington met with Director of Institut d’Emission des Départements d’Outre-Mer (IEDOM) for Guadeloupe and the Northern Islands Thierry Beltrand on Monday, May 9, when Beltrand announced a strengthening of IEDOM’s presence in the territory of St. Martin and a new assessment of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Among IEDOM’s missions is the fight against individual debt, under the umbrella of Banque de France, on which it depends. Beltrand also announced the re-opening of the monthly IEDOM office in St. Martin, starting in June. In the long term, IEDOM wishes to settle permanently in St. Martin, a move Mussington supports.
IEDOM also produces statistics on the economy of St. Martin, notably through the collection of company balance sheets, carried out anonymously, which allows it to conduct studies on the local economic situation.
A mission dedicated to this objective will be deployed in the territory during June, when the global annual report based on the data collected in the region will also be published. The institute proposes to supplement this material with an additional four-page overview presenting the island of St. Martin, its history, its economy and social data.
The Collectivité wishes to significantly strengthen data collection and rely on its institutional partners. Its economic development delegation created a statistics department in 2021
“By strengthening statistics, we can gain a better understanding of the territory and propose public policies that are adapted to the needs of the population,” Mussington said.
The sensitive issue of St. Martin’s GDP was also discussed. The last assessment of St. Martin’s GDP was done in 2018 from data collected in 2014. The data have changed dramatically since then and that GDP assessment is now outdated.
Beltrand announced that a partnership between IEDOM, the national bureau of statistics INSEE (Institut National de la Statistique et des Éudes Économiques) and Agence Française du Devéloppement (AFD) would be conducted before the end of this year to evaluate St. Martin’s new GDP and allow the Collectivité to have more recent data.
Mussington welcomed the announcement, saying it was now urgent to put in place the statistical tools needed to deploy public policies on behalf of employment and youth.
