THE government expects a surplus in revenues through various income-generating activities and intends to pay its creditors, acting Gov. Diego T. Benavente said.
“It is an obligation that the government is going to pay,” he added.
The government owes $72.82 million to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., the Retirement Fund and various vendors, according to the recently released CNMI Financial Profile.
Of this figure, $54.75 million is owed by the government as employer’s share of contribution to the Retirement Fund.
The government owes CUC $10.86 million and its other vendors $7.2 million.
These figures, however, do not include the $10.198 million that the government has to pay in quarterly allotments to the Retirement Fund.
Benavente admitted that the CNMI’s current economic hardship will not allow the government to pay all its debts this year.
“The only way that this will happen is if we revive the economy, which we will do,” he said.
“We will have a surplus to be able to pay at least a portion of the deficit,” Benavente said.
He said the government’s debt to CUC is already being worked out in the settlement agreement between the corporation and the Commonwealth Development Authority. CUC owes CDA over $100 million.
Benavente said the administration is expecting a “modest but favorable 10 percent increase” in revenues for fiscal year 2003.
Gov. Juan N. Babauta earlier said that there was an “assured increase” in the collection of business gross revenue tax, excise tax and other collections.
