THE HAGUE, WILLEMSTAD - Curaçao and the Netherlands are working hard behind the scenes to prevent a budgetary instruction from the Kingdom Council of Ministers.

It is not the measures to be taken that are part of the discussion, but the pace at which they must be implemented. The Kingdom Council of Ministers will make a decision about this on Friday.

There is already a draft agreement but the government of Curaçao did not want to comment about it until it has been discussed with the Netherlands and a final agreement has been reached. Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath indicated that the agreement is based on the Growth Strategy plan agreed upon by the Netherlands and Curaçao.

Furthermore, the draft agreement also includes adjustments that have already been announced by the government and that have also been incorporated into the 2019 budget amendment, as well as previous agreements with the Financial Supervision Board (Cft). “What we want to achieve is support and assistance from the Netherlands for the implementation of our recovery program. The content of the agreement with the Netherlands will clearly be the subject of discussion this Friday," says the prime minister.