6 May 2010

CNMI's Lieutenant Governor says local economy is still trying to recover

10:53 am on 6 May 2010

The Lieutenant Governor of the CNMI said the Commonwealth's still trying to recover from the Asian economic crisis in the late nineties to the pullout of Japan Airlines five years ago.

Eloy Inos addressed the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and said current and future government finances continues to be a struggle.

He said the recent departure of the garment industry was also a big blow to the economy, which now relies heavily on tourism.

Before the first term of the Fitial administration in 2005, the government budget was at 216 million US dollars before dropping to 213 million dollars.

Then the budget continued to drop steadily until it reached only 148 million dollars in the current fiscal year.

At this stage the projected revenue by 2011 is just 132 million dollars.