16 Mar 2011

Japan disaster impacts on CNMI budget

4:03 pm on 16 March 2011

The acting governor of the Northern Marianas, Eloy S. Inos, says the projected budget of 120 million US dollar for the fiscal year 2012 could go down as a result of Japan's quake and tsunami's impact on the CNMI's tourism industry.

The CNMI, which relies heavily on tourist arrivals from Japan, has already seen a steady drop in its annual budget to pay for health, safety, education and welfare services to the public.

The administration's press secretary says the government has yet to come up with projected amount of losses to the CNMI as a result of group travel cancellations and other developments related to the Japan disaster.

But Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the tsunami are expected to lower the projected budget, which is already a 12 million US dollars down from the 2011 budget.