WILLEMSTAD.- The Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath yesterday said in Parliament, that he hopes that the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom during their meeting of the coming Friday June 14th in the Netherlands does not accept an instruction for Curaçao. According to Rhuggenaath this will have serious consequences for the economy of Curaçao. Yesterday EXTRA presented a concept of the instruction available to take it into account.
In the instruction it is clearly written that according to the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom, the Government of Curaçao does not comply with the rules of the “Financial Supervision Law” and did not do enough to minimize the deficit in the 2019 budget.
According to the concept of instruction that has been presented by the Junior Minister for Relations of the Kingdom, Raymond Knops, the entries and expenses of Curaçao are not balanced and the financial management is not in order. The 2017 budget closed with a deficit of Ang.116.8 million and the preliminary deficit of 2018 is for Ang. 52.7 million. The 2019 budget has a deficit of Ang. 112 million, which means that for three consecutive years Curaçao has not met the standards prescribed. For that reason, next Friday the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom will vote on the application of an instruction. The concept does not mention in how many years Curaçao will have to restore the deficit. According to Rhuggenaath, the Financial Supervision Committee advises a period of three years. But according to Rhuggenaath, this will have as a consequence that our economy will contract drastically during the following years. In his opinion, Curaçao requires 5 years to restore all deficits.
