GREAT BAY--Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina has said St. Maarten’s long-term budget challenge cannot be solved by yearly budgeting alone, stressing that the country must confront a structural reality: a limited number of contributors are carrying the financial demands of a much larger population.
Responding to questions about what the 2026 and 2027 budgets may look like for St. Maarten, the Prime Minister said the country faces the same expectations and obligations as larger countries, but without the population size or fiscal base needed to comfortably finance those demands.
Dr. Mercelina described St. Maarten as an island territory surrounded by the sea, with an official population of approximately 43,000 people, but with a likely real population closer to 60,000 when undocumented residents are included.
“We have the same challenges as every big country, but we do not have the statistics to contribute financially in a way that allows us to adhere to all the demands of a country,” the Prime Minister said.
He said this reality means St. Maarten will continue to face pressure in its national budgets, including in 2026 and 2027, because the system itself creates recurring deficits when government attempts to meet the needs and expectations of the full community.
“The system that we are in will always make that we will have a deficit to fulfill all the desires for a country and a community,” Dr. Mercelina said.
The Prime Minister used healthcare financing as one of the clearest examples of the challenge. He said that if St. Maarten has a working estimate of 60,000 people on the Dutch side, approximately 15,000 are elderly, 15,000 are children and another 15,000 may be undocumented. That leaves approximately 15,000 people contributing significantly to the system.
“There is no financial formula where 15,000 people can pay for 60,000,” Dr. Mercelina said.
He said the elderly naturally consume more healthcare while contributing less financially, children also contribute little to the system, and undocumented residents create additional demand without being fully captured in the formal contribution structure. As a result, he said, St. Maarten will always face a challenge in areas such as sustainable healthcare financing unless the country finds ways to broaden its financial base.
The Prime Minister said St. Maarten must look at systems that allow the country to expand the number of contributors and strengthen the financial foundation needed to support essential services.
“We will have to look into systems that can broaden the statistical financial contribution for us to survive in St. Maarten,” he said.
Dr. Mercelina also said this is why St. Maarten must focus on alliance and association with the wider world, rather than isolating itself. He argued that the country must find ways to connect itself to systems that can support development, healthcare and other national priorities.
“Instead of focusing on independence to isolate ourselves more, we will have to work on alliance and association with the world,” the Prime Minister said.
He said the goal should be to position St. Maarten within systems that create more responsible and sustainable financial contributions for major national needs.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that much work remains to be done in St. Maarten and that the public is aware of the country’s challenges. However, he said solving those challenges will require a broader understanding that everyone will have to contribute more to the system in some form.
“There is a lot that has to happen in this country,” Dr. Mercelina said. “Everybody knows what the challenges are, but at the end of the day, not everybody realizes that for us to solve this problem, everybody will have to add a little more contribution to the system.”
Dr. Mercelina’s comments frame the 2026 and 2027 budget discussions around structural reform, revenue broadening and the need for St. Maarten to build a more sustainable financial model capable of supporting the country’s public services and long-term development.
Join Our Community Today
Subscribe to our mailing list to be the first to receive
breaking news, updates, and more.
