WILLEMSTAD – A major evaluation of Kingdom-wide reforms has found that Curaçao’s reform program has been under significant pressure due to a mismatch between ambition and available capacity.
According to the report, Curaçao—like Aruba and Sint Maarten—was tasked with implementing a broad range of structural reforms across multiple sectors at the same time. These included changes to financial management, labor markets, public administration, and social systems.
However, the evaluation points out that these reforms were introduced without sufficient prioritization or realistic assessment of the country’s administrative capacity. Government departments were required to manage reform projects alongside their regular duties, often with the same limited personnel.
This led to bottlenecks, delays, and increased pressure on civil servants, many of whom were responsible not only for implementing reforms but also for reporting and compliance within the Kingdom framework.
While adjustments have been made over time—such as rephasing projects and conducting additional studies—the initial design of the reform agenda continues to influence its execution.
The report underscores that future progress will depend on better alignment between reform goals and the island’s actual capacity to implement them.