SXMElections.com

HARBOUR VIEW--Only 20 to 25 per cent of the country’s population can be tagged as living below the poverty line by using the country’s actual minimum wage, according to the Social Economic Council SER in its recent unsolicited advice to Government on the establishment of “Boost St. Maarten” – a conditional cash transfers programme to reduce poverty.

The preliminary results of the 2011 Census show that some 20 per cent of households live on NAf. 1,000 per month or less. Based on that, SER has determined that 20-25 per cent of the population can be its preliminary definition of “poor” and not 75 per cent as reported in the National Integrity System Assessment of the country executed by the global anti-corruption organisation Transparency International (TI).

SER’s percentage is vastly different from that stated in the TI report for the country released on July 28.

The significant difference between the two percentages comes from TI not using the country’s actual minimum wage and applying a Dutch standard that was used in Bonaire, a special dependency of the Netherlands.

The SER percentage takes into account the basic income from financial aid from Government (NAf. 983/month) and the minimum wage for a 40-hour workweek (NAf. 1,442.75/month).

The poverty line of Bonaire covers households of four persons and was used by TI due to lack of a St. Maarten standard.

SER has established a preliminary poverty line of NAf. 1,154 and has not defined the number of people per household, as there is no solid data available. The Department of Statistics STAT is expected to conduct research on that later this year.

Approximately 2,600 households had an income of NAf. 1,000 per month or less in 2011, according to the SER advice. Financial aid reaches approximately 630 households at present.

SER called on Government in its advice, published in the National Gazette (Landscourant) on July 24, “to set a poverty line in the near future.” That advice, the first unsolicited one for 2015, was presented to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs in May.

“Poverty exists in St. Maarten and ‘Boost St. Maarten’ fills in the gaps of the existing poverty reduction policies as an additional policy,” said SER in the report’s introduction.

“Boost St. Maarten” aims to reduce poverty and increase human capacity development through its conditions. “Households with increased human capacity will be better able to fend for themselves in the future after participating in ‘Boost St. Maarten,’” said SER.

SER advised that all households below the poverty line that have been living in St. Maarten consecutively for at least two years are eligible for the programme. If those households have children ages 15-18 or pregnant women over age 18 and fulfil the additional conditions, they will receive NAf. 288 per month additional income (25 per cent of the preliminary poverty line) for a limited period of time.

SER estimated in its advice that between 400 and 540 households would be reached by “Boost St. Maarten” annually.

If the conditions are not met, the households will not receive an additional income. Recipients of financial aid are excluded from participating in the programme.

Social and Health Insurances SZV is “well equipped” to execute Boost St. Maarten.

“Boost St. Maarten” requires a yearly budget between NAf. 2.2 million and NAf. 2.8 million. SER recommended that Government seek funding from international institutions.