WILLEMSTAD - The supervisory body was a good idea, but after 13 years, it is evident that it looked good on paper. The financial situation has not changed much, while the tax model, as the starting point of the supervisory body, has not helped Curaçao to maintain a low national debt level. After 13 years of the Financial Accord Act, Curaçao’s national debt is at 4 billion guilders (2.3 billion dollars).
In 2010, after negotiations that began in 2006, Curaçao introduced the Financial Accord Acts supervised by the Financial Supervision Committee (Cft). Cft's role was to ensure better financial management in Curaçao by carrying out control tasks. Between 2010 and 2023, over 13 years, Curaçao's national debt increased from 1.3 billion (after restructuring) to 4.2 billion guilders. This is an increase of 3.9 billion, equivalent to almost 400 million guilders annually. Every month, between 2010 and 2023, Curaçao was managing its debts poorly by over 30 million guilders just to prevent the debt from reaching 4 billion. Cft did not fulfill its function.
The same financial figures that the Netherlands used to justify the introduction of Cft are the very figures that conclude that Cft did not function.
Curaçao must part ways with Cft.
Even more seriously, the consumer market in Curaçao has flourished to the extent that it is no longer responsible for providing water to the individual homes for cleaning. While Cft pressures consumers to pay more taxes, more money flows into the treasury to continue irresponsible spending. In this regard, the supervisory body has no control whatsoever. Over 13 years, Cft told us "what to do," but it had no kind of control "on how they do it." Curaçao was collecting around 1.5 billion florins in annual revenue. This means that each resident in Curaçao contributes around 800 guilders per month to the financing of operational and structural expenses of the country. In reality and practice, this is not true, as at least 25% or more of our revenues are misspent by our own representatives. This is why the financial supervision system favors everyone except the people. The Netherlands controls politicians through the Financial Accord Act, while politicians support Cft because it means more money in the treasury for reckless spending.