WILLEMSTAD - This coming Friday will be exciting for Curaçao politics because the Kingdom Council of Ministers decides on the request of former Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath for 188 million guilders extra liquidity support.
The request was officially made at the beginning of this month, namely on June 2. The requested 188 million relates to the third quarter; to get through the period July, August, September.
These months coincide exactly with the first hundred days of the government of Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas. If the money does not come from the Netherlands, the treasure will become empty, as was indicated by the Ministry of Finance.
Curaçao received no liquidity support for the second quarter of this year; according to the Board of Financial Supervision (Cft), which advises the Kingdom Council of Ministers (RMR) on this matter, the government still had sufficient liquid assets for the months of April to June.
However much there is a need for additional financial support in the form of interest-free loans - the support provided to Curaçao since the corona crisis amounts to 668 million guilders - everything indicates that the government does not meet the conditions set by the Netherlands from the start.
Last week, Undersecretary Raymond Knops of Kingdom Relations informed the Dutch Parliament that since certain legislation should have been approved by the Curaçao parliament for some time, the Kingdom Council of Ministers decided on March 26 that 'Curaçao will only be eligible for liquidity support again if the legislation has been adopted and entered into force'.
It concerns the list of the 12.5 percent cut on the employment conditions of civil servants, which has been known for about a year; the 25 percent cut on the employment conditions of ministers and members of parliament; and the 12.5 percent cut on the benefits of government-affiliated entities.
How financially dependent Curaçao has turned out to be in the covid crisis is also apparent from the fact that of the 682 million that, according to the Ministry of Finance, was spent in the period from 20 March to 21 May in connection with the corona pandemic, an amount of 667 .5 million came from the Netherlands and 14.7 million from its 'own budget'.
And of this total amount, 427.8 million was so-called budget support; to keep the national budget afloat and to allow the government apparatus to function. In other words: 65 percent (almost two thirds) of every guilder from the Netherlands went to the government and a third went to pay for companies (NOW and TVL), the self-employed, those who lost their jobs and social support by means of payment cards.
All eyes are on this Friday's Kingdom Council of Ministers in The Hague, when a decision is made on the 188 million requested to get through the third quarter. Although the report earlier this week that the Netherlands will stop liquidity support to Curaçao was immediately denied by spokespersons from The Hague, it has been stated that Curaçao still does not meet the conditions.
In addition, the Dutch government, through Undersecretary Knops, has already informed the new Prime Minister Pisas and his coalition partner Larmonie-Cecilia in black and white that 'participation in the Coho Kingdom Act is a condition for obtaining support from the Netherlands'.