THE HAGUE - Demissionary State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (Kingdom Relations) remains committed to lending additional funds to Curaçao and Sint Maarten to secure pension rights on the islands, she stated after the Council of Ministers. She is disregarding a negative advisory from a supervisory body in Curaçao regarding this matter.
The loan is for approximately 600 million euros, intended for around 30,000 people on the islands. The College of Financial Supervision (Cft) described the loan in the FD (Financial Daily) as 'highly undesirable', partly because Curaçao is recovering from the COVID-19 crisis, and the new loans would increase the national debt. However, Van Huffelen deems this assistance necessary for those affected by a crisis at the pension insurer ENNIA.
Van Huffelen hopes that the Dutch people want the government to be frugal with tax revenues while showing solidarity with those who are at risk of losing their pensions and falling into poverty. "Because yes, if your pension is not paid out at 100 percent but at 20 percent or less, you can no longer make ends meet, and then we will have other problems."
Van Huffelen emphasizes that these are loans that 'must be repaid, and we ensure that this remains possible'. According to her, it should be achievable, even though the countries will soon have to refinance Dutch COVID-19 loans.
"We are members of the same kingdom," she says. The money must be repaid, but in a way that allows the countries to continue making important expenditures, such as in education and poverty alleviation.