THE HAGUE - Curacao and Sint Maarten do not adhere to the decision of the Kingdom Council of Ministers regarding the phasing out of the 12.5 percent salary discount. State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Alexandra van Huffelen reports this in a letter to the Dutch House of Representatives.
Curaçao has decided to pay employees in the public sector a one-time bonus of 1,750 guilders. Sint Maarten has chosen to proceed with the payment of holiday pay. In both cases without a positive advice from the Financial Supervision Board (Cft) and without permission from the Kingdom Council of Ministers, according to Van Huffelen.
Despite the Cft's advice to grant liquidity support to Sint Maarten, the Kingdom Council of Ministers has decided to discontinue the financial support. This is valid until Sint Maarten can submit a Cft-Advice showing that the alternative interpretation of the salary discount meets the conditions.
Just like the first two quarters of 2022, Curaçao does not rely on financial support from the Netherlands. Due to a liquidity surplus in 2021 and higher than expected tax revenues, the deficit can be covered this year without liquidity support. In her letter, the State Secretary does not discuss the possible consequences of violating the agreements made.