Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
S TATIA N EWS
V OLUME 1, ISSUE 18 N OVEMBER 26, 2009
Statia’s Developent
E DITORIAL Plan, Phase 2,
Page 2
Statia’s Develop-
ment Plan, Phase 1,
Page 3
Three Focuses,
Page 4
Steba Anniversary,
Page 5
Statia Day,
Page 6,7
SWOT, page 9
S TATIA D AY
A lot of quartermasters and other people that work for the Dutch government joined Mr. Henk Kamp in this
Winair flight from Sint Maarten to Statia. They came to celebrate Statiaday. In the back Mr. Henk Kamp, in
front of him the representative of the Netherlands. On the airport in Sint Maarten, they were discussing the
early hour and were wondering why they had to be on the Fort at 6 o’clock. The next day they must have
noticed the magic of daybreak during this ceremony and they must have been thinking about the good fee‐
ling you get when you get up very early in the tropics. Seeing the children, they also must have felt some‐
thing good.
At the ceremony on Fort Oranje around seven At the track and field competition after the ceremony
o’clock (Picture by Evert van Schaik)
P AGE 7 L OCAL N EWS Nov, 26, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
Culture Night: A Group of Statia Surinams performing
(picture by Natasja V.)
Culture Night: The Obey Man from St. Kitts performing Youth Night: Romario Renfrum showing his football
(picture by Natasja V.) skills (picture by Mega D Youth Foundation)
P AGE 8 L OCAL N EWS Nov, 26, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
T HE D OLLAR
Ewout van Haeften and Willy Dassen of DNB (the Cen‐ 3. The US dollar has shown a downward trend for years,
tral Bank of the Netherlands) are helping Statia, Bonaire what will this mean for the purchasing power of the Statia
and Saba with the conversion from Naf to the US dollar. people?
Statianews asked them some questions via email. This does not change compared to the current situation.
The Naf has been linked to the dollar for years and has
1. When will the conversion of NAF to USD take place? dropped in value along with the US dollar. Buying prod‐
The conversion to U.S. dollars will take place on January ucts in U.S. dollar regions will remain as "expensive" as it
1, 2011 at 00:00 hours is now. Products that are purchased in Euros have seen a
At that time, all accounts are converted into Naf (U.S.) steady increase in price.
dollars
This will be done automatically by the banks. The rate will 4. We now have the Windward Islands and the First Carib‐
be 1.79. That is the central rate bean Bank, will that remain so?
at which the Naf has been linked to the dollar for years. We assume that this will not change. We are in discussion
The economic value does therefore not change, only the with these banks on the transition to the dollar. All these
banknotes and coins will look different. banks are making plans for the conversion. This will be a
big job, which the banks recognize, and they will assume
their responsibilities.
1 Dollar equals 1.79 Naf. The central rate as previously
mentioned. The BNA (Netherlands Antilles Bank) guaran‐ 5. Who will be the Central Bank of these banks?
teed the linking of the Naf to the dollar for the central This will be De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). That does not
rate. mean that we will open an office on the BES islands. In
the Netherlands we have only the headquarters, we have
There was always a risk that the Naf would devalue in no branches or agencies.
relation to the dollar when the BNA was not able to pur‐ After the transition the DNB will be responsible for the
sue a sufficiently strong monetary policy. Because of that transactions and act as the supervisor of the banks.
risk, the interest rate on a loan in NAf’s is higher than for Monitoring of large and independent branches will be
a loan in U.S. dollars. Partly because of this risk of de‐ done by the DNB itself. > Smaller firms simply remain
valuation versus the U.S. dollar, the BNA is now also con‐ on the BNA report. DNB will be informed by the BNA.
sidering a dollarization of Curacao and St. Maarten. As for payments, we assume that the local banks them‐
The value of the dollar is managed by the FED. That is the selves will provide the necessary U.S. dollars through
system of central banks in the U.S.. their own channels. Just as now but in higher numbers.
Their monetary policy determines the value of the dollar.
The central bank of a large country is better able to pur‐ 6. How will the DNB be able to decide about interest rates
sue a strong monetary policy. when the FED already decides this for the US dollar?
The DNB cannot. But the BNA hardly decides that now
2. Why wasn’t the Euro chosen? neither, due to the Naf being linked to the dollar.
Given the additional risk by the Naf (imagine that the BNA
The Antilles are oriented on the dollar. 80% of trade takes
lets go of the link to the dollar and de NAf will devalue
place with dollar regions.
with respect to the dollar) the (short) interest in the cur‐
Most tourists come from U.S. dollars regions.
rent situation is theoretically higher. How the BES islands
The euro is an expensive currency compared to the dol‐
will notice that in practice after the conversion is the
lar. That means that everything on the BES islands would
question. The interest rate for mortgages is also depend‐
become much more expensive, this would have negative
ent on the real estate market and the risks expected
impact on welfare. This effect is clearly visible on the
there. In addition, competition between banks can also
French part of Sint Maarten.
play a role. >
P AGE 9 L OCAL N EWS Nov, 26, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
T HE D OLLAR F OLLOW U P
7. What decisions can DNB make about the banks here on 8. Are there banks from the Netherlands who are inter‐
Statia? ested in opening a branch on Statia?
We will jointly monitor the banks so the inhabitants' That is up to the banks. We have so far not noticed any
money will be responsibly handled. interest.
The people should not notice any thereof.
We will also seek to promote a more efficient payment
systems, for which the Dutch transactions system stand
model.
Weaknesses
Limited medical care
Quality level of education and brain drain
Quality and insufficient infrastructure and ac-
cessibility
No sustainable waste disposal
Local entrepreneurship/unemployment
Small degree of economic diversification
Weak hotel sector
Oranje bay beach not suitable for tourist pur-
poses
Free roaming cattle One of the weaknesses of Statia: Free Roaming Cattle
P AGE 10 D ISCUSSION Nov, 26, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
Texel is 20 km long and 8 km wide. The island has a
lot of water; the surface of the land is 170 km2.
Texel has approximately 14 thousand inhabitants.
Statia is eleven square miles and has 3000 inhabi‐
tants. When he told me stories about island life on
Texel, they were comparable to the stories of
Statia. The big difference between Texel and Statia
is tourism. Texel has 30 hotels and the inhabitants
do not want to expand the number of rooms avail‐
able for tourists. Statia has about 5 or 6 hotels and
A lighthouse on Texel
desperately needs expansion. Texel wants to be a
green and self sufficient island before the year
P AGE 11 A RTS Nov, 26, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
Statia’s Lieutenant‐Governor Mr. Hyden Gittens
wants a flight school on Statia.
(photo by Tyrone Peterson)
Air StMaarten (a company specializing in private
charters throughout the Caribbean) and current
president of the Aviation Pioneers of the Caribbean
Foundation, called the stamps “the culmination of
The stamps and special first day envelopes were an idea ‐ an inspiration as it were, “ that struck
presented to the families of the honorees and to whilst at lunch in Statia with Elly Deliën, long time
representatives of the island governments by Mr. partner of the late José Dormoy, the management
Franklin Sluis, General Managing Director of of the Post Office walked in (deze zin loopt niet).
Nieuwe Post N.A., during a special ceremony in St.
Maarten. St. Maarten leader of government
Surprise announcement by Lt.‐Governor Gittens As secretary and resident historian of the Founda‐
tion, I was asked by Elly Deliën to speak on her be‐
Statia’s Lieutenant‐Governor Mr. Hyden Gittens half and acknowledge this honor bestowed onto
received a specially framed presentation of the José. The St. Maarten leader of government Mr.
stamps and envelope on behalf of the island terri‐ William Marlin gave me a great lead‐in when he
tory. He congratulated the families and also made a said: “There are so many stories about how he flew ‐
surprise announcement regarding another project the things he could do with an aircraft: endless and
of the Aviation Pioneers Foundation. He could re‐
P AGE 13 L OCAL N EWS Nov, 26, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
T HE F IRST S ALUTE
IN NOVEMBER 1776 THE FIRST SA-
HIS CRIME…..?!? TEACHING RELIGION
LUTE WAS FIRED TO THE ANDREW
TO THE SLAVES ON THIS ISLAND.
DORIA.
EMANCIPATION CAME ON JULY FIRST
ON FEBRUARY 10TH 1787, ELEVEN
(1ST) 1863. THIS WAS 87 YEARS AFTER
YEARS LATER, BLACK HARRY, A
THE FIRST SALUTE TO THE AMERICAN
SLAVE IMPORTED FROM AMERICA,
FLAG.
WAS ORDERED TO BE WHIPPED IN
THE PUBLIC MARKET THEN IMPRIS-
This information was taken from the METH-
ONED FOR 4 MONTHS. HE WAS TO BE
ODIST ARCHIVES, from the book: PERSE-
DEPORTED AFTER.
CUTING GOVERNOR.
L ONELY ON S TATIA
Hello Annemieke, No market with fresh products (food in
the shops is expensive)
I enjoy reading your newsletter and I
would like to respond. No proper roads and traffic lights
I would like to react to the following: You
ask for suggestions about how one would No place for youth to get information
like Statia to be. I wonder if anything will about birth control and s.t.d.’s.
be done with the ideas people come up
with. Etc. etc.
B INARY E CONOMICS
In the last edition of Statianews, there was an arti‐ to read. This website gives a good explanation of
cle from Michiel Bijkerk, attorney from Bonaire, this theory developed by Kelso in the 1960’s. He
who travels through Cuba and promotes “the Third was an political economist in the tradition of Smith,
Way”. He sends emails every day, and Statianews Marx and Keynes.
realizes they are “letters to the editor”. If you want http://www.cesj.org/binaryeconomics/be‐
a day to day email from Michiel Bijkerk, send an inanutshell.htm
email to info@statianews.com The theory he ex‐ A forum about this economic system can be found
plains in his email and the opportunity Cuba has to on: http://www.cesj.org/binaryeconomics/be‐
implement this “third way” have no immediate con‐ cogdiscussion.htm
nection with local news on Statia, nonetheless, if If you want to receive Michiel Bijkerks’ daily reports
you are interested in economics, it might be good via email, please mail to: info@statianews.com
P AGE 15 A NNOUNCEMENTS Nov, 26, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
DECEMBER 5, 2009:
4pm
Sinterklaas comes by boat at the
harbour, he will come to Spanner
Corner for a childrens’ party.
Marlon and his co workers at the newly renovated
bar
7 pm
Official opening of the bar, with
snacks and drinks and a deejay
11 pm
Party time: Statia’s own Control
Band will play
Marlon aka M&M throws a grand opening party
December 5.
P AGE 17 A NNOUNCEMENTS Nov, 26, 2009 S TATIA N EWS