THE HAGUE - An agreement has still not been reached between The Hague and Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten regarding the refinancing of the COVID-19 loans. In hopes of achieving a breakthrough, State Secretary Van Huffelen will travel to the Caribbean at the end of this week for discussions with the governments.
The liquidity loans are set to expire on October 10th. Months of bureaucratic negotiations have not resulted in an agreement on the conditions for extension. The refinancing of the loans (totaling 1.1 billion) is inevitable simply because the countries do not have sufficient funds to begin repayment.
The Netherlands is willing to give the countries decades to repay the loans, but in order to qualify for a favorable interest rate, the countries must meet conditions that are entirely unrelated to the COVID-19 crisis. Curaçao and Sint Maarten must find a solution for the ailing Ennia, which urgently needs 700 million to secure the pensions of approximately 30,000 participants. Aruba is required to cease its resistance to the introduction of the Kingdom Act on Aruba's Financial Supervision.