WILLEMSTAD – Members of the Curaçao Parliament will have until October 19 to submit written questions about the government's proposed 2027 budget before the public parliamentary debate begins in late November.
The deadline forms part of a revised budget procedure communicated to MPs by Parliament President Fergino Brownbill.
The draft budget was formally submitted to Parliament on September 8. Under the revised timetable, the Central Committee will meet on October 5 to establish the procedure for submitting questions and comments from the parliamentary factions.
Brownbill has asked MPs to focus the first round particularly on the numerical sections of the budget and the General Considerations.
That stage will provide Parliament with an opportunity to scrutinize the assumptions, expenditure plans and financial priorities contained in the government's proposal before ministers appear for the broader political debate.
The 2027 budget projects approximately XCG 2.19 billion in total expenditure and contains the government's financial plans across areas including healthcare, education, infrastructure, justice, social policy and public administration.
After MPs submit their questions by October 19, Parliament will combine them into a draft report scheduled to be circulated among the factions on October 21.
The final report is expected to be approved on October 23 and forwarded to the government.
The Cabinet will then be required to provide written answers through a Nota naar aanleiding van het Verslag. Those answers are intended to give MPs additional information before they confront ministers during the public budget proceedings.
The public debate is currently scheduled to begin November 23 and conclude by December 4.
That means more than two months will pass between the government's submission of the draft budget on September 8 and the beginning of the public parliamentary debate.
Once the debate concludes, less than one month will remain before the new financial year begins on January 1, 2027.
The coming written-question stage could therefore provide the first indication of which parts of the 2027 budget will face the greatest scrutiny when the government and Parliament meet for the full budget debate.