Ask Siri the following: “Hey Siri, how long until 2020 ends?” The answer you get is: “December 29th”. Try it if you don’t believe me. Is Siri that fed up with the year 2020 that it wants it to end ahead of time? Who knows, but Apple has confirmed that a glitch with the IOS has led to a ‘confused’ Siri.
Whilst not many will shed a single tear for 2020, we are however starting 2021 with a lot of unfinished business, here and globally.
The agenda from January to March and possible until May here will be dominated by the Parliamentary election which could see a record number of participating parties (the record currently stands at 14) leading to more confusion and devision. Will yet another referendum be scheduled (even though we don’t have a referendum law) to change our constitutional status and relationship with The Netherlands? Will we finally find another operator for our outdated oil refinery? Will the Caribbean Entity for Reform and Development (COHO) become a success? Will the mechanisms for development and capacity building be in place or will it become the latest ‘The Hague-show’? Barring intervention by religious zealots will 2021 be the year of medicinal cannabis? Most importantly, will this project benefits more than a very small powerful group (the usual suspects) on the island? And yes, the USD 64,000 question (which was left unanswered in 2018, 2019 and 2020) is whether the 1,000 hungry cows are finally going to arrive from Colombia so we can fatten them?
Will the covid vaccines lead to some kind of normalcy and alleviation of tough economic times or will the anti-vaxxers among others, slowdown the recovery? And then there is everything else -the situation in Venezuela, the new US policy towards the Caribbean, oil prices, Brexit and its consequences for the region, the New Cold War, the assortment of tensions in North Africa, Central Asia, the Horn of Africa, just to mention a few.
Clearly, the end of 2020 (whether its on the 29th or 31st) doesn’t forecast smooth sailing in 2021.
Alex David Rosaria (53) is a freelance consultant active in Asia & Pacific. He is a former Member of Parliament, Minister of Economic Affairs, State Secretary of Finance and UN Implementation Officer in Africa and Central America. He’s from Curaçao and has a MBA from the University of Iowa. (USA).
