A report analyzing the financial position of the CNMI compared to other insular territories noted that, although it is improving compared to previous years, it would still need \u201cexcellent\u201d work.<\/p>\n
A financial statement analysis, known as the Performeter, which was submitted to the CNMI Legislature last week by Crawford & Associates, LLC, noted that although the CNMI\u2019s economic performance is slowly reversing several years of \u201cless than satisfactory\u201d health and performance, it still needs work.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026Continued excellent annual financial performances will still [be] necessary to completely reverse the poor financial position that the CNMI has found itself in over the past decade,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n
The Performeter rated the CNMI\u2019s financial performance for fiscal year 2018 at 3.84, which indicated a steady and consistent improvement since fiscal year 2009. <\/p>\n
The rating scale ranges from zero to 10, with zero being the lowest and 10 the highest. In 2009, the CNMI\u2019s overall score was at 1.84. The lowest was in 2011 at 1.48.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2018 reading of 3.84 indicates the evaluator\u2019s opinion that the CNMI government\u2019s overall financial health and performance showed consistent improvement with the prior period, although the reading continues to remain below satisfactory as of and for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2018,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n
Among the excellent aspects of the CNMI government\u2019s financial health included a large improvement in the CNMI\u2019s net position, which was consistent with previous year\u2019s performances.<\/p>\n
For fiscal year 2018, the CNMI\u2019s total net position deficit decreased from fiscal year 2017\u2019s $62.9 million to $39.3 million. This is a difference of $22.6 million, or 36.5%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CNMI primary government\u2019s overall net position now stands as a net deficit of $39.3 million, an improvement of significantly shrinking down the size of the overall net position deficit by earning revenue in excess of expenses for the year,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n
The report further noted a healthy intergenerational equity measure for the government. Intergenerational measure is a measure of whether the government lived within its means in the measurement year, or was required to use prior year resources to fund a portion of current year costs, or shifted the funding of some of the current year costs to future periods.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the year ended Sept. 30, 2018, the CNMI funded 108.8% of their expenses with current year revenues, which is considered an excellent ratio,\u201d the report stated. \u201c\u2026Although a slight decrease in the ratio from the prior year.\u201d<\/p>\n
For fiscal year 2017, the intergenerational equity measure for the CNMI government was at 118.8%. <\/p>\n
While the report noted several favorable figures, it also showed some unsavory figures.<\/p>\n
The CNMI\u2019s level of total unrestricted net position, an indication of the amount of unexpended and available resources the CNMI has at a point in time to fund for emergencies, shortfalls, or unexpected needs, are less than ideal.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor [fiscal year 2018], the CNMI\u2019s total unrestricted net position was in a deficit position that approximated -32.7% of annual total revenues, which amounts to $133 million,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, this represents an improvement in the ratio when compared to the ratio of the prior year and continues a six-year trend of improvement,\u201d it noted. <\/p>\n
Fiscal year 2017\u2019s ratio was -34.1%, while the prior fiscal year\u2019s was -57%. The largest ratio the Performeter provided was for fiscal year 2012, where the CNMI government was -145.4% in a deficit should an emergency arise. The ratio has been shrinking since then.<\/p>\n
For those interested, the full report is available online at http:\/\/www.pitiviti.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A report analyzing the financial position of the CNMI compared to other insular territories noted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}