Citing Finance Secretary David Atalig’s earlier statement, Press Secretary Kevin Bautista said the government’s financial outlook for FY 2020 is better than FY 2019.
Atalig, for his part, said the economic outlook and financial initiatives for FY 2020 “are very much in contrast when compared to the prior fiscal year.”
He said with the cooperation of the Legislature and the Marianas Public Land Trust, the CNMI government secured a $10 million loan from MPLT to fund “emergency disaster relief and recovery expenses incurred as a result of the devastation from Super Typhoon Yutu.”
Atalig said the Legislature appropriated an additional $10 million from the exclusive gaming license fee.
He said these alternative financial sources “provided temporary relief to our cash position to make whole outstanding FY 2019 payments to a large proportion of vendors and autonomous agencies, such as Northern Marianas College and the Public School System.”
In conjunction with the Commonwealth Development Authority, he said the administration is diligently working to float bonds for the FY 2020 Settlement Fund payments while making available general revenues to address the reduction of deficit and finance essential services and strategic projects.
“Ultimately, despite the difficulties we have experienced in fiscal year 2019, the foundations of our economy remain strong and with continued collaboration between the executive and legislative branches, along with our private sector partners, we can strengthen economic activity and provide for greater revenue generation in the coming months,” Atalig said.
