Curaçao’s new Minister Plenipotentiary Carlson Manuel attended the Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting for the first time on Friday. Afterwards, he spoke to the media. Passing behind him is St. Maarten’s Minister Plenipotentiary Rene Violenus. (Suzanne Koelega photo)
THE HAGUE--Because Curaçao and St. Maarten for the most part are not complying with the conditions of the sixth tranche of liquidity support, the Kingdom Council of Ministers on Friday decided to hold off on the allocation of this funding (see related story).
Aruba is sufficiently compliant with the conditions of the sixth tranche with only a few small loose ends to take care of, and as such the country will receive 181 million Aruban florins to help cover the cost of the third quarter (July, August, and September).
The Committee for Financial Supervision CFT had advised to allocate NAf. 168 million for Curaçao and NAf. 48 million for St. Maarten in the sixth tranche. Because the two countries by no means complied with the conditions of the sixth tranche, the Kingdom government decided to set further conditions and timelines for the payment of this tranche.
As for Curaçao, the Kingdom government decided to split up the sixth tranche into two parts: NAf. 75.5 million and NAf. 92.5 million, Knops said in an interview with The Daily Herald on Friday. The division of the sixth tranche also has to do with the fact that in Curaçao only just last week a new government was installed. Curaçao’s new Minister Plenipotentiary Carlson Manuel attended his first meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers on Friday.
The Curaçao Parliament needs to approve three laws that are part of the conditions that the Dutch government set in order to receive liquidity support. The law proposals were submitted to Parliament in February. Of the three law proposals, only one has already been implemented, but lacks a legal basis: the 25-per-cent reduction in the renumeration package for Members of Parliament (MPs) and ministers.
The other two law proposals – a maximisation of benefits for top officials of government and of government-owned entities, and a 12.5 per cent cut in the total benefits for civil servants and employees in the semi-public sector – are still in the consultation stage in Parliament and have not been implemented.
The Kingdom Council of Ministers on March 26 decided that Curaçao would only be receiving the next tranche of liquidity support if the Parliament had adopted the concerned legislation and the laws in question had gone into effect.
Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten have been receiving liquidity support from the Netherlands since early 2020 to assist the countries in coping with the (financial) consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country packages and the execution thereof are part of the conditions that The Hague has set. The liquidity needs of the countries are assessed and decided upon every quarter.
