THE HAGUE--Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops has agreed to provide an additional loan facility to Curaçao of NAf. 30 million.
The minister stated this in the third quarter progress report Growth Accord Curaçao which was sent to the Dutch Parliament on Wednesday. On July 12, 2019, the governments of Curaçao and the Netherlands signed the Growth Accord.
The agreement entails measures that should result in sustainable healthy government finances, a structurally higher economic growth, an efficient and effective government organisation and a long-term improvement of the quality of life in Curaçao.
The Dutch government, as usual, set a number of preconditions with which Curaçao has to comply in order to qualify for Dutch support. In the first period, Curaçao had to execute a number of direct measures from the Growth Accord in the 2019 budget amendment. Also, broad political support had to be secured in the Curaçao Parliament for the execution of said accord.
The Progress Committee concluded that Curaçao complied with both conditions. “Based on this, I have concluded that the technical assistance to Curaçao can be continued and Curaçao can make use of the additional loan facility of NAf. 30 million,” stated Knops.
The minister noted that the request to borrow from the Netherlands still required the customary approval by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT. In addition, a strategic investment agenda needs to be drafted which shows that the planned investments comply with the criteria of economic solvability, in light of the objectives of the Growth Accord.
The next progress report, covering the fourth quarter of 2019, is expected in March. The reaction of the CFT to the fourth execution report 2019 will be included.
