FINANCIAL INSTRUCTION AND MUTUAL ARRANGEMENTS DESIGNED TO FINANCIALLY HELP CURACAO.

FINANCIAL INSTRUCTION AND MUTUAL ARRANGEMENTS DESIGNED TO FINANCIALLY HELP CURACAO.

Netherlands, The Kingdom Council of Ministers, on the proposal of State Secretary Knops of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, has made a decision to financial instruct the government of Curaçao.

The financial instructions follows the advice of the Financial Supervision Board; (CFT), which in recent years has expressed its concerns about the financial management of Curacao and the ever increasing deficits in the country's budget. A healthy government finances, as laid down in the Curacao and Sint Maarten Financial Supervision Act, are of great importance for Curacao's economic development and stability.

It is also of the utmost importance that Curacao fully implement the necessary structural reforms.

The Netherlands is aware that this requires time and that it is difficult to achieve this without proper support. To this end, a mutual agreement has been reached between the Netherlands and Curacao. These agreements have been made on the direct measures and structural reforms that Curacao must implement in order to revive the economy and to bring public finances back into order. These concerns include the areas of: Economy, Government Finances, Government apparatus, Social Security, Care, Education and the Labor Market. The tax system and the budgetary process are also being addressed. It is now important to execute the agreements energetically.

The Netherlands will support these efforts by offering knowledge and capacity available. This support is linked to the progress that Curacao is making on the implementation of the agreements included in the mutual arrangement. The progress will be evaluated every six months by a joint committee that has not been staffed yet.