THE HAGUE - State Secretary Van Huffelen has urgently appealed to the Dutch Parliament by letter to promptly process the necessary budget amendment for refinancing the corona loans to Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten (totaling 1.1 billion euros).
Time is running out as the loans will expire on October 10, and there is still no agreement on the conditions set by the Netherlands. The loans will be refinanced regardless, but the question is at what interest rate. For Aruba, if there is no agreement on the Kingdom Act Financial Supervision Aruba, the Netherlands will charge a market-conform interest rate (between 6 and 8%). Similarly, Curaçao and Sint Maarten will not qualify for a favorable interest rate (approximately 2%) if they fail to find a solution for the "pension gap" of around 600 million at Ennia.
Van Huffelen expects to send the budget amendment to Parliament shortly after the summer recess. The Parliament must promptly approve it to prevent the government from violating its own budgetary rules.