On Wednesday, meetings began between Minister President Wever-Croes and Minister of Finance Maduro along with Secretary of State Van Huffelen to address the debt Aruba has accumulated with the Netherlands to overcome the pandemic.
The pandemic had a major effect on Aruba’s economy and public finances and the Netherlands helped lend Aruba the necessary funds to cover our financial needs. Now that the period has passed and Aruba is recovering, it is time to start talking about how to pay this debt. To do this, it is necessary to know the terms of payment and the conditions under which Aruba can repay the debt.
Aruba has long been asking the Netherlands to start talking about the terms of payment of its accumulated debt to overcome the pandemic. Aruba, unlike Corsica and Sint Maarten, lends money on the international market and owes international investors an explanation on how to deal with the huge debt accumulated with the Netherlands.
They would ask, for example, whether this debt would affect Aruba’s ability to pay its debts on the international market. As the Dutch debt matures in October 2023, Aruba wants clarity from the Netherlands as soon as possible. Some meetings have already taken place at the level of ambassadors, but now in The Hague the first of several meetings at the level of ambassadors on this topic took place.
We can say that the Netherlands wants to see Aruba’s economic financial plan for the time ahead, the FEM 2 which is expected to be ready in June this year. The Netherlands would like to have a look at, among other things, Aruba’s ability to pay for the time ahead. Information from the EMF 2 will help determine, among other things, the repayment period and the interest rate.
Minister Maduro thanks Minister President Wever-Croes for his guidance, Secretary of State Van Huffelen and his team for the good meeting and the Aruba team for their support and professional work for the good of Aruba.
