BNA: Positive future through cooperation

July 23, 2008 4:50 PM

President-director Emsley Tromp of the Bank of the Netherlands Antilles (BNA) qualifies the growth of the Antillean economy as ‘robust’ for the year 2007. The growth figure of 3,7 percent which scores a realistic gross national product (GNP) hasn’t been this high since 1994.

The economic prospects for 2008 and onwards are favorable, eventhough international developments will most probably slow down the growth tempo. To maintain this positive future position, we must put our energy together for a new political future.
Especially the greater Antillean islands contributed to the positive figures of 2007: the economy of Curaçao – the largest of the Antillean islands – grew by 3,5 percent, the St. Maarten economy by 4,5 percent and the Bonairean economy by 5 percent.
The private sector played a main role in the expansion story which can completely be attributed to the national developments especially in the area of investment and consumption. The biggest pull came from the construction, hotel and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, real estate, lease and business services sectors.
The building activity experience a boom as a result of projects in the tourism industry and the retail business.
The inflation showed stability by staying at 2,8 percent in 2007 just as it did in 2006. Government regulation of energy tariffs and the lower inflation in the United States helped it. For the year 2008 the Antillean inflation is estimated at 5 percent. The Department of Economic Affairs even predicts an inflation of 7 percent for Curaçao.

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

July 18, 2008