ORANJESTAD - Some time ago, the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) issued a statement to the press about the bond loan in two parts that the country wants to issue of 60 million florins and 60 million dollars respectively.
First of all, it should be stated that it is therefore not about 400 million florins as is incorrectly stated in the statement, but 60 million florins and 60 million dollars. The interest calculation used by BZK is therefore not correct. So, no extra 21 million in annual interest costs and no 1400 florins in extra costs for every citizen.
It is also argued that interim repayment will be necessary to bring down the debts. This may be true for a car loan or mortgage, but for a country the only way to reduce debt is to have more income than expenses. So surpluses. Making interim repayments sounds nice, but is of no use as long as there are no surpluses. You can only really make repayments with surpluses in your pocket.
In addition, it is argued that with these loans the debt ratio will shoot up to 127 percent and it is jokingly said that the cabinet would be in a competition for a place in the top 10 of the countries with the most debt. It must be said here that the debt ratio will also end up at exactly the same debt ratio with Dutch loans. So it does not really matter for the debt ratio and the debt position where the loan comes from. The only way that the debt ratio will not increase is if the Netherlands were to switch to donations, which, unlike in the case of Italy and Spain, is not negotiable until today.
This statement shows that the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations has some difficulty in distinguishing between the terms “debt” and “loan”. A loan is a debt, but not all debts are loans. This means that, even without raising loans, the debt and debt ratio will rise this year. This is because this year, as is known, the expenditure on the budget is considerably more than the income. This is because the cabinet is trying to keep the economy going.
Finally, Aruba is accused of not talking to BZK, but that people talk about BZK publicly. This is quite ironic because precisely with this press statement for the third time (the first time by the Representative of the Netherlands in Willemstad via a public speech, the second time by the Undersecretary in a press conference and the third time via this press statement) by BZK publicly about Aruba is spoken without having spoken to Aruba beforehand.
In any case, Aruba is prepared to openly enter into a dialogue with the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in order to reach a true consensus.
