Aruba initiated the debt reduction process. Now operating with surplus budgets, Aruba will meet the debt quota norms in 2031 and 2040. This promotes financial stability of the Government in difficult times in the future and to create funds to invest in strategic areas, such as making Aruba resistant to climate change.
Revenues and expenditures In the 2024 budget, a surplus of +1.0% is projected, which totals a sum of Afl. 69.7 million. Approved Budget Balance by 2023: Afl. +63.2 million. Effect of economic projection and policy intensification on revenues: Afl. + 74.4 million minus Effect of intensifying the policy on spending: Afl. + 67.9 million Balance of Budget Concept 2024: Afl. + 69.7 million entries.
Aruba’s revenue will increase by approximately Afl. 74 million due to economic growth and policy intensification compared to 2023. The country’s expenditure for 2024 will increase by approximately Afl. 68 million due to the implementation of Country Packages programs, policy initiatives and the growth of interest expenses, among others to pay interest on the Afl. 916 million florins debt with the Netherlands.
Financial balance: The decisions taken at the level of revenues and expenditures led to a budget with a financial balance of a surplus of Afl. 70 million florin. Future forecast is that the surplus in the Budget of 2024 will be used completely to reduce the Aruban debt. This will result in a debt reduction of 5% of GDP compared to 2023.
In 2024, Aruba’s debt position will improve by 45.1 percentage points compared to the debt position during the COVID-19 period. If no major changes are made, the debt could return to pre-pandemic levels by 2026.
The country’s debt position calculated for each person in Aruba before the pandemic was Afl. 39,531 and after the pandemic it increased to Afl. 52,305 florin.
In the long term, Aruba will continue to meet the surplus standard as long as it does not deviate from the current financial framework. For the next four years, it is expected that the result of the collective norm will exceed the norm of 1% of GDP, due to the good performance of the social funds.
