WILLEMSTAD - A total of 40 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the government telecom company UTS will be used to capitalize the Curaçao Development Institute (CDI).
"This institute is currently being expanded with the support of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and Invest-NL to an Invest Curaçao, which will apply for a banking license in the fall."
This was announced by the Minister of Finance Kenneth Gijsbertha. "As a first product, CDI will set up a Guarantee Fund structure to facilitate equity investments in Curaçao in particular."
The Financial Supervision Board (Cft) had previously asked the Government Accountants Bureau (SOAB) about the administrative processing of the sales proceeds of UTS and the intentions of the government to transfer this one-off sales proceeds under the 'Growth strategy Curaçao, Integrated and Together' for economic structure strengthening.
The Rhuggenaath government has decided to use the income from the sale of the UTS shares for structural reinforcement in accordance with its intentions.
"A total of 40 percent of the revenue is used to invest in improving the functioning of the government apparatus of Curaçao, for public investments in priority economic sectors and to improve the financial management of the government of Curaçao," said Gijsbertha.
The remaining 20 percent of the income from the sale of the UTS shares is reserved for investment in the social infrastructure of Curaçao and also for education and training. This mainly concerns investments to make up for existing backlogs, the minister explains. The regular activities are funded from the government budget.