Since 2018, Curaçao has failed to produce an approved financial statement. That means six years without any real financial accountability. What may appear on paper to be a simple administrative delay is, in reality, a dangerous erosion of good governance, legality, and transparency.
A financial statement is not just a stack of numbers. It is the government's only legitimate method of showing how taxpayers’ money has been spent and how budgets have been managed. Without it, transparency and insight vanish completely. Citizens, Parliament members, investors, and regulatory bodies alike are left in the dark about the true state of the country's finances.
There is no clear view of our debts, deficits, subsidies, regulatory compliance, or policy outcomes. And yet, every year, budgets are drafted, plans are announced, subsidies are handed out, and new laws are proposed — all without any serious reflection or review. This amounts to building public policy on quicksand.
Ministers are steering based on assumptions and rough guesses, not on facts. Meanwhile, oversight institutions like the Financial Supervision Board (Cft), the General Audit Chamber, the Central Bank, and Parliament itself are unable to properly perform their roles. The consequences are severe: mismanagement, inefficiency, and financial chaos.
It is long past time for Parliament to take a far more proactive stance. Parliament must demand, with force and urgency, the timely submission of audited financial statements — verified by an independent external auditor. If the Minister of Finance fails to deliver without an extremely convincing reason, Parliament should not hesitate to send him home. Failure to act would amount to willful mismanagement.
Budgets are essential because they authorize government spending. But budgets without credible, up-to-date financial reports are based on fiction, not fact. True financial oversight cannot exist without them.
The stakes go far beyond Fort Amsterdam. Internationally, this failure damages Curaçao’s reputation as a reliable partner. At home, it erodes the public's trust in government. Worse yet, mistakes are repeated simply because there is no clear record of what worked — and what did not.
The solution is not complicated, but it demands political courage: complete the overdue financial statements, restore accountability, show decisive leadership, and rebuild trust.
A country without a mirror and without a dashboard is not driving toward a better future — it is speeding into darkness with no way to navigate.
