THE HAGUE – A Dutch government evaluation has warned that temporary Kingdom funding is frequently being used to finance structural problems in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, creating long-term risks for governance and public finances.
The warning appears in a policy evaluation of Kingdom Relations spending under Article 4 of the Dutch budget.
According to the researchers, so-called “special grants” remain useful instruments for supporting the Caribbean territories, but in practice they are often used to cover recurring structural costs with temporary funding.
The report recommends that structural expenses should only receive structural financing in the future.
Researchers also criticized the fragmented nature of Kingdom funding and the absence of clear policy logic behind many expenditures. According to the evaluation, Article 4 increasingly functions as a flexible emergency budget used for crisis response and ad hoc interventions rather than long-term development policy.
The report further noted that many projects financed through Kingdom Relations budgets actually belong substantively to other Dutch ministries, while BZK ends up coordinating and financing them because of its Kingdom responsibilities.
The Dutch government is expected to formally respond to the recommendations by the end of 2026.