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PHILIPSBURG--The draft 2015 budget is a step closer to Parliament. The budget, with remarks from the Advisory Council, has been submitted to Governor Eugene Holiday by the Gumbs Cabinet.
The budget was top priority for the cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs. That cabinet was sworn in by Governor Holiday on December 19, 2014, and faces an extended deadline from the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT. Government has been given until January 31 to establish the budget for this year.
The budget is long overdue and by law should have been established by December 2014. After it became clear to Finance Minister Martin Hassink as a member of the then-Wescot-Williams III cabinet that the deadline would not be met, he requested an extension from CFT.
When the budget reaches the hands of parliamentarians, review will commence in a Central Committee meeting. That session will be followed by a plenary session of Parliament for the adoption of the budget.
In the interim, all ministries and government departments are operating using the 2014 budget ceiling.