WILLEMSTAD - Curaçao wants to create more space for investments. That reports Minister of Finance, Javier Silvania. To gain more elbow room, he wants to refinance part of the bond loans at a lower interest rate.
Silvania has asked State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen to offer the option of refinancing. The minister invokes the agreements made at 10-10-'10, which gives Curaçao the right to take out loans under certain conditions for capital investments for the further development of the country.
The loans received by Curaçao in the context of liquidity support have been provided by the Netherlands at a nil percentage. This was possible given the fact that the Netherlands itself could borrow at a negative interest rate. Of course, this interest rate does not apply to loans granted in the past, in particular before 2014.
The table below shows, among other things, the interest rates of the (bond) loans taken out by the Country. The bond loans up to and including 2014 have a higher interest rate than the current interest on Dutch bonds (last known interest rate is 0.5%). It is therefore not unreasonable to assume that a refinancing of the bond loans up to and including 2014 will create more financial scope for making investments from own resources.
