Today’s news of a possible protocol to shift part of the Central Bank’s operations to St. Maarten will no doubt be welcomed. Finance Minister Richard Gibson’s argument that where the bank spends money should reflect the shares division between the two countries of the monetary union makes sense.
Right now the bulk of the financial sector supervisor’s operational budget stays in Curaçao. The Minister’s reasoning is that based on its 20 per cent ownership at least NAf. 12 million per year should go to St. Maarten.
However, the question can be asked whether an annual budget of about NAf. 60 million isn’t too much. Granted, the Central Bank is no doubt a very important institution that must employ highly-paid experts, but one can’t escape the impression that the current setup is rather lavish and quite costly.
A huge new main office was built in Curaçao while the branch in Philipsburg is undergoing an expansion project. It’s fair to wonder whether some downsizing won’t soon be in order also in light of the bank’s future role.
After all, the introduction of a Caribbean guilder as intended since the constitutional reforms per 10-10-10 never took place and the Antillean guilder of the no-longer-existent Netherlands Antilles is still in use. A decision on whether to continue like this or opt for dollarization to reduce the cost of doing business by eliminating the one per cent foreign exchange licence fee remains pending as well.
If a choice is made for the latter, it would mean a considerably smaller bank or other monetary authority with a severely limited scope. That is something to be kept in mind as well.
