WILLEMSTAD - In accordance with the request of the Netherlands, the Curaçao Government submitted a letter on 31 August to the Financial Supervision Board (Cft) indicating the status of the steps that have been taken in the past period to comply with the conditions imposed by the Netherlands. This is related to the second tranche of financial support. The letter paints a general picture, but is informative about how far Curaçao has come and what the financial prognosis is for the coming period.
Important points that emerge from the letter:
The Curaçao Government has been supporting people who have lost their job since April 2020, both before March 15 of this year and afterwards. Curaçao has done this with its own funds, without support from the Netherlands. In this case, the Government can guarantee payments to this group until the end of September, which amounts to a total of 6 months for which it has been possible to grant aid.
With effect from 1 July 2020, a cut on the terms of employment package for ministers and parliamentarians has been introduced. This must now be anchored in a law. The process to succeed in this is already underway and the concept will be presented to the Advisory Board before going to Parliament, most likely in October.
With regard to the 12.5% cut on the employment conditions package of employees in the public sector, the Council of Ministers has already approved the draft law that must be presented to Parliament as soon as possible.
It is also the intention to convert the Ministerial Decree (MB) published on May 13 - which concerns salaries of senior officials that must be adjusted in accordance with the new salary of the Prime Minister - into a draft law. This draft law will also be presented to Parliament in October. In the meantime, the MB remains in effect. On this basis, reduced rates have also been calculated for consultants, which has also been approved by the Council of Ministers.
In the letter, the Government also presents its 'business case'. This includes advice ("second opinion") from CMC. In addition, the annual reports of all public companies that the Cft has requested have been submitted.
In this way, the Government wishes to demonstrate that it complies with its discussions with the Dutch Kingdom, is once again serious in the implementation of its recovery plan for the socio-economic situation of Curaçao and continues to build the country. On this basis, the Government hopes to be able to continue the conversation with the Netherlands, in order to eventually arrive at an agreement reached in favor of the Curaçao people.