WILLEMSTAD – The Government of Curaçao is expected to receive more than NAf 28 million in dividends from state-owned fuel company Curoil for the 2023 and 2024 financial years after the Stichting Bureau Toezicht en Normering Overheidsentiteiten (SBTNO) raised no objections to a significantly higher dividend payout.
Curoil had proposed maintaining its conservative dividend policy, under which 10 percent of annual net profit is distributed to its sole shareholder, the Government of Curaçao. Under that policy, the government would have received approximately NAf 1.85 million for 2023 and NAf 3.82 million for 2024, totaling NAf 5.67 million.
However, the Ministry of Finance proposed increasing the dividend payout ratio to 50 percent of net profit. This would result in a dividend of approximately NAf 9.25 million for 2023 and more than NAf 19 million for 2024, bringing the total payout to more than NAf 28 million.
The proposed increase would provide the government with nearly NAf 23 million more than Curoil had originally recommended.
According to SBTNO, the higher dividend is financially justified. The supervisory body concluded that Curoil will continue to meet the liquidity and solvency requirements applicable to commercial enterprises even after making the larger payment.
The watchdog also noted that the dividend could be transferred to the government through a payment arrangement if necessary.
The annual financial statements for 2023 and 2024 have received unqualified audit opinions from Ernst & Young but have not yet been formally adopted. Final approval of both the financial statements and the dividend distribution still rests with Curoil's General Meeting of Shareholders, with the Government of Curaçao serving as the company's sole shareholder.