WILLEMSTAD - In a letter to the President of Parliament, the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten informed about the campaign that they will launch soon to encourage the community in Curaçao and Sint Maarten to round cash payments to zero or five cents.

The reason for the CBCS to start this rounding campaign is because rounding offers several advantages, such as cost savings on the production of these coins (the production costs of 1 cent coins are more than twice the face value of these coins), much less coins in the wallet, facilitating payments and more efficient administration for companies.

The CBCS has drawn up the following standard guidelines for rounding cash payments, which are communicated to consumers and businesses in various ways:

The total amount ending in 1 or 2 cents is rounded to the lower x,x0.

The total amount ending in 3, 4, 6, 7 cents is rounded to x,x5.

The total amount ending in 8 or 9 cents is rounded up to the higher x,x(+1)0.

Rounding is voluntary and does not apply to debit card payments or bank transfers. In accordance with article 3 of the Dutch Antilles Coin System Regulations, the 1 cent coin is still legal tender. The CBCS does intend to amend this in the legislation in due course.

This initiative is supported by the following stakeholders in Curaçao and Sint Maarten: Ministry of Economic Development of Curaçao, Consumers Association, Supermarket Association Curaçao, Chamber of Commerce & Industry Curaçao, Curaçao Chinese Business Association, Curaçao Bankers' Associations, Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunication of Sint Maarten, Sint Maarten Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Sint Maarten Bankers' Association, Indian Merchants Association, Sint Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association and Sint Maarten Chinese Community Foundation.