At a press conference on Monday, September 18, 2023, Minister President of Aruba (MinPres) explained where Aruba awo stands with the negotiation of the raft (Rijkswet Aruba Financieel toezicht) since the deadline of September 1st was not met.
What is most remarkable about the Press conference is how easily Min Pres talks about sums big ones that will affect all the citizens of our island. Min Pres clarifies that the favorable interest of 3.1% is not above mesa mas, but with the awo the interest would be between 5.1% and 6.5%, which is just a difference from the Afl. 1 million. In the end min Pres corroborated that the difference is around the Afl. 10 million. Min Pres added that Aruba could to carry this sum but did not explain how Aruba could carry it. It was only mentioned that the entries of Aruba is doing great! There are those who interpret it with tax revenues, which are expenses of the people, are better than expected? Isn’t it better to reduce taxes to create relief for the community?
The Afr. 30 million that Atia calculated and wrote about it is if the government had complied by September 1, but that didn’t happen so the interest increased. It is wrong to stand alone compared to awo 5 and 6% only, since not to comply. We must not forget that in the past the interest rate was less than 3.1%. Non-compliance yields costa Aruba porlomos Afl. 20 million extra to the interest per year. Is this a cost we would all want to carry? I could have avoided this additional expense that I would now have to cover with tax revenues. In the trade you are going to calling it an “opportunity cost”, the extra cost that must be paid for not making use of some opportunity for one reason or another.
Money that could be raided to decrease our loans, or more it is important to invest in Fixing streets (infrastructure), Education (Our youth and future), or in security of our country these areas are exactly the ones cut in budget in 2023 in order to comply with the coffee. The question is still what the Huelva Government is going to do so that the burden does not fall on commerce and the Huelva people. Will the government come up with, for example, an investment plan or incentive to stimulate and grow our economy and thus also increase its income? Or is the plan like in the past only to increase taxes that will affect commerce and looters of all citizens? These are questions that we all need to ask ourselves and our leaders.
