THE HAGUE – If the Curaçao government continues to obstruct the creation of the rescue plan for the Ennia pension fund, it could have very adverse consequences for Sint Maarten, as the country would then have to pay 6 to 8% interest on the corona loan instead of 3.1%, as revealed during the debate tonight of the Kingdom Relations Committee with State Secretary Van Huffelen.

This is the result of the choice to incorporate the rescue plan into a single governance agreement between Curaçao, Sint Maarten, the Netherlands, and the Central Bank. Sint Maarten is the only country that has now met all the conditions but depends on Curaçao’s cooperation in the Ennia deal to determine the interest rate. This week, Prime Minister Pisas stated that he believes the Kingdom’s assets should be tapped.

Jorien Wuite asked the State Secretary to prevent Sint Maarten from being penalized. Joba van den Berg expressed sadness that the country that met the conditions first could be penalized due to Curaçao’s actions. Van Huffelen said she had good hopes that Curaçao would still agree to the proposed solution. The deadline for reaching a governance agreement on the Ennia rescue plan is September 30.

The debate made it clear that the Parliament agrees to the refinancing of the 1.1 billion euros in corona loans. In October, a decision will still need to be made regarding the conditions. The Curaçao Parliament and the Aruba Parliament will also need to express their views. Aruba is already certain that it will be charged a market rate of interest (6 to 8%) because it continues to resist a Kingdom Act on financial supervision for Aruba. In the debate, Van Huffelen called this “irresponsible” because it would increase annual interest costs by about 30 million euros.

Bron: Curacao Chronicle