Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes elaborated on the Raft, and negotiations with the Netherlands. A topic that is very topical because in October 2023 the debt that the country of Aruba has borrowed from the Netherlands of AWG. 916 million expires and we either have to pay or refinance.
The Netherlands is ready to refinance
Prime Minister indicated that the Netherlands is willing to refinance as much as Aruba would need to seek the trust on the international market and put the offer to the test for (1) a period of 20 year, (2) at an interest rate of 6-8%, probably 6.5%. But in this offering, on this plate, The Netherlands itself pays 3% for the bond, they lend it to us at 6%, so they earn 3% on the bond here. If the lease is for 20 years, they will earn more than 300 million florins from our taxpayers taxes. This, the Prime Minister remarked, is not helpful according to our statute. Help according to the statute is to lower the interest. The Netherlands in this case will gain a lot of money from us.
Condition
The Netherlands has indicated that it is willing to lower interest rates to 3.2%, but that as a condition for removing financial supervision from the hands of the country of Aruba, the Government of Aruba, and the Parliament and transfer it to the Kingdom, in a ‘Rijkswet’, the RAFT. This is the case in Sint Maarten and Curaçao for the year 2010. On several occasions, the Government of Aruba has explained to the Netherlands that it has no confidence that a ‘Rijkswet’ will work for Aruba. A ‘Rijkswet’ would break the economy of Aruba and stop growth of our country. We can compare Aruba’s growth with that of Curaçao and St. Maarten has had the ‘Rijkswet’ since 2010, so you can see the difference. In addition, Curaçao and St Maarten they received a debt discharge when they received the ‘Rijkswet’, meaning that Aruba is now part of the Netherlands. want a ‘Rijkswet’ but do not want to give any waiver for COVID-19 related debts.
The excess is being paid back
Aruba is an autonomous country, and we’ve proven that the supervision as it is now, in the hands of Aruba, it works. Aruba is the only country in the kingdom that has a surplus, and they’re paying debt. Our national debt has already fallen from 96.6% in 2022, to 88.3% at the start of this year, and will continue to do so, continue to decline to 82% next year. The target is to reach 70% by 2031. We don’t want this development. because if we are deprived of what we have, we have an abundance that we can never repay. The Prime Minister remarked.
Evaluation of the German reunification of the Netherlands
The Prime Minister mentioned another argument that Germany is resentful of the Netherlands. evaluated the functioning of the similar ‘Rijkswet’ in Curaçao and Sint Maarten and concluded that the Rijkswet is an obstacle to the socio-economic development of countries.
They urged the Netherlands to evaluate it operation of Raft. That also put the Netherlands in a position to evaluate the ‘Rijkswet’ its functioning. This evaluation has not yet taken place. Aruba also asked to evaluate the LAft and CAft in Aruba. This has not yet happened. Then this evaluation takes Instead, Aruba will also decide in which direction to go with financial supervision. This condition is to lower the interest rate to 5.1% for the next two years, and then if we give In the ‘Rijkswet’ they will rise to 3.2%. This is a condition that the Tawata government has many
they were hard pressed and unable to bear up under him. However, we had to accept it in the end. The Prime Minister indicated that the first phase of the project will be completed in 2020 and then again in 2021.