Northern Mariana Islands House Speaker Demapan still sees positive side of poor financial rating

House Speaker Rafael S. Demapan (R-Saipan) said he still sees the positive side of the report presented by two independent contractors employed by the U.S. Department of the Interior-Office of Insular Affairs that gave the CNMI’s financial health a poor 2 rating.

Graduate School USA International Institute program manager Stephen Latimer and Crawford & Associates president Frank Crawford presented the Performeter Report to help the Legislature understand the CNMI’s financial health.

The U.S. Department of the Interior every year sponsors the report where those tasked to make the study and summary must develop financial management analysis of each government from the five territories.

The CNMI report, however, is based on data from 2014 where the Commonwealth, along with other Pacific Island nations, were still reeling from the after effects of the global financial crisis. The rating is expected to improve a little for 2015 even with the Internet outage and Typhoon Soudelor, which happened in succession in the third quarter of last year, affecting the result.

Read more: http://www.saipantribune.com/index.php/demapan-still-sees-positive-side-nmis-poor-rating/

[font color=330099]Yes, only a Republican would claim that a poor financial rating has a positive aspect to it.[/font]