WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao’s efforts to improve government financial management continue to face significant delays, partly because reforms have not received sufficient administrative priority and critical financial positions remain unfilled.
The problems are acknowledged by the government itself in the June 2026 Financial Management Report, which provides an update on the program intended to improve Curaçao’s financial administration and eventually obtain an unqualified audit opinion on the government’s annual accounts.
According to the report, progress has been made, but many reform projects are delayed or at risk of falling behind schedule.
One of the main causes identified by the government is that financial management received political and administrative attention but insufficient priority. Decisions consequently remained pending for too long, while implementation within individual ministries did not proceed quickly enough.
Staff shortages are another major problem. Critical positions within the government’s financial administration remain vacant, while existing personnel lack sufficient capacity to carry out reform projects alongside their regular duties.
Recruitment efforts conducted between 2023 and 2025 produced only part of the desired result.
Delays across several projects have also created what the government describes as a “harmonica effect,” causing the original sequencing of the reform program to disappear and reducing the overall focus of the initiative.
The government says lasting improvement will require more than technical changes. A permanent change in behavior at all levels of the public administration is also considered necessary.
To strengthen the program, Curaçao requested €1.28 million in funding for external assistance in program management and individual projects. The Temporary Work Organization, TWO, formally granted the subsidy on March 30, 2026.
The government’s financial-management roadmap contains 11 major areas requiring improvement, including personnel expenses, subsidies and transfers, fixed assets, government purchases, tax revenues, non-tax revenues and budget overruns.
A more detailed update is expected in the September 2026 financial report, when the government intends to report project-by-project on milestones, risks, delays and measures being taken to address the problems.