THE HAGUE – Curaçao and Aruba are solely responsible for the fact that they have to pay a higher interest rate on their COVID-19 loans.

This is the essence of the response given by State Secretary Alexandra Van Huffelen of the Interior during the budget debate on Kingdom Relations when asked about her assessment of the refinancing process and the lessons to be learned from it.

According to the government official, the governments knew precisely what was expected of them as early as May. “It surprised me that the countries only got to work at a late stage. This has led to unnecessary pressure on the process, and as a result, it wasn’t possible to finalize everything on time, resulting in higher interest rates for Aruba and Curaçao. I hope we have all learned from this not to wait until the last moment to address important matters. This will also benefit relations within the Kingdom.”

Only when the Pisas and Wever-Croes cabinets meet the conditions will they qualify for a lower interest rate. However, due to the internationally rising interest rates, it will likely be higher than the 3.4% previously offered by the Netherlands.

Bron: Curacao Chronicle