WILLEMSTAD - 1 in 4 households must live on an income below the poverty line. This is evident from the motion that the parliament has adopted to save 121 million guilders on the budget. The unemployment rate in 2018 was over 13 percent, of which almost 30 percent were youth. This figure has been around 30 percent since 2012. In 2016 there were even 37 percent youth unemployment, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics.
According to parliament, these negative developments have led to the need to start taking actions. They want to do this by, among other things, increasing sales tax to 9 percent and merging institutions. The motion was signed yesterday with 12 for and 6 in parliament. A household committee will also be set up to investigate whether it is possible to reduce the salaries of parliamentarians by 10 percent. This motion was adopted with 13 votes in favor and 3 against.