Praise for Saba's major financial achievement

Saba is the first public entity to have an annual account with an approved declaration of an accountant, an accomplishment that was highly praised by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT.

Late August 2015, the CFT received the annual account covering the budgetary year of 2014. “The CFT wants to congratulate you,” the CFT stated in a letter that was sent to Saba Island Governor Jonathan Johnson on September 1, which was released this week.

The CFT gave Saba credit for having an annual account with a positive declaration by the accountant for both “accuracy and legitimacy.” This makes Saba the first public entity to have an annual account with an approved declaration, it was noted.

“The CFT considers this a major accomplishment and compliments you on the steps that have been taken in the past years in the area of financial management to achieve this result,” it was stated in the letter signed by CFT Chairman Age Bakker.

The 2014 annual account showed a positive result of US $1.8 million, which is a considerable part of the total expenditures, namely 11 per cent. However the CFT pointed out that selling the shares of the Windward Islands utility company GEBE to St. Maarten generated US $6.2 million in revenues for Saba.

The revenue of this sale were used to create a US $4.7 million back-up facility to cover the anticipated losses of the new Saba Electric Company (SEC). Without the sale of the GEBE shares, the 2014 result would have been US $1.5 million lower, the CFT remarked.

On the other hand, Saba did contribute towards the future pension obligations for elected members of the local government to the tune of US $1.3 million. Despite the declining cash position in 2014, Saba still managed to realise a cash position that was US $2.8 million higher at the end of 2014 compared to late 2013. According to the CFT, the cash flow and the general position remained a point of attention even though Saba was able to comply with all short term obligations. The CFT also sent a letter to Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk to inform him about Saba’s accomplishment.

Source: The Daily Herald.