THE HAGUE – The Dutch House of Representatives in The Hague is concerned about the delay in the implementation of the country financial packages in Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten. One of the causes is a lack of execution power. This is apparent from a letter from State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Van Huffelen to the House of Representatives.
The letter also shows that the Kingdom Council of Ministers has determined what the maximum deficit Curaçao may have for this year: 4 million. For Sint Maarten, the upper limit is 40 million. No ceiling has yet been set for Aruba because the country still has to provide data.
The State Secretary also indicated that since the beginning of 2021, the Countries and the Temporary Work Organization (TWO) have been working on the details of the National Packages, which were agreed with the countries at the end of 2020. The third Implementation Report of 2022 describes the progress of the National Packages. The progress of the implementation in the past quarter is generally assessed as generally good by the TWO. This is a condition for receiving liquidity support. However, the implementation capacity in the countries has been a concern for the TWO (for some time now).
The State Secretary says that this causes delays in the execution of the implementation agendas for some measures. Now that more and more activities are entering the implementation phase, perseverance and tight control of the process are required. For Curaçao, the TWO speaks of a mixed picture. The TWO is particularly concerned about progress in the area of the business climate. There are also delays in the measures for financial management and the public sector. Where good progress is being made in Aruba, tax reforms deserve extra attention now that Aruba has decided not to continue with the planned introduction of the new tax system as of January 1, 2023. For Sint Maarten, there has been constructive cooperation on the realization of the agreements. However, the TWO points to the limited implementation power, an ambitious planning method, the lack of (timely) administrative decision-making in certain areas and a complexity that is greater than previously anticipated as delaying factors.
