He didn't exclude "further-reaching measures" if Willemstad doesn't live up to the instruction of the Kingdom Council of Ministers.

 

Curaçao must execute the updated November 2, 2012, instruction of the Kingdom Council of Ministers to balance its 2012 budget and offset the NAf. 55 million deficit of 2010 and 2011. But so far, not much has been done and measures by Curaçao's interim cabinet are yet to be realised. In the meantime the financial situation has gotten worse.

 

The interim cabinet has acknowledged the problem and has made a serious effort to start the process of recovery. However, that doesn't mean that the instruction in essence has not been lived up to, explained the Minister in his letter, which was requested by the Second Chamber.

 

Non-compliance in carrying out the instruction is a "serious shortcoming," stated Plasterk. "The norms on which the instruction is based were jointly secured by Curaçao, St. Maarten and The Netherlands in the Financial Supervision Law and therefore are legally binding for Curaçao and St. Maarten."

 

"If the instruction is not lived up to and an intolerable situation develops, which cannot be redressed by the country's institutions, the guarantee function can be deployed as an ultimate remedy. Based on this, temporary, further-reaching measures can be taken. These measures have to be proportionate and aimed at recovery to a normal situation," stated the Minister.

 

Plasterk said the policy line of the Kingdom Council of Ministers will be "strictly" maintained. Curaçao's 2013 budget has to be balanced and the multi-annual calculations have to be balanced as well. The budget and the multi-annual calculations have to compensate the deficits of the previous years.

"As an autonomous country in the Kingdom Curaçao is responsible for financial balance and has to solve the problems itself. The Kingdom Council of Ministers will keep a keen eye on the adequateness of the measures," he stated.

 

Solving the financial woes and effectuating the budget cycle is a major task, because much time has been lost in Curaçao over the past few months. In the meantime, the financial problems have only become bigger in the absence of effective and adequate measures. "It cannot be excluded that measures will be felt by the people."

 

According to the Minister, Curaçao will have to make the maximum effort to adequately complete the necessary changes to the 2012 budget and to focus on a timely and adequate realisation of the 2013 budget in order to comply with the instruction.

 

Plasterk said Curaçao's financial situation remained extremely worrisome. A recent report by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT indicated that the assets continue to decrease and that the liquidity position shows a negative development.

 

The interim cabinet is anticipating major deficits for this year and the coming years if the policy of the Curaçao Government is not adapted: minus NAf. 196 million in 2012, minus 321 million in 2013, minus 370 million in 2014 and minus 430 million in 2015. This doesn't incorporate potential risks.

The interim cabinet is aware of the risks of the government-owned companies for the budget and the public facilities and is working on solutions, explained Plasterk. The CFT will incorporate a summary of the risks of the government-owned companies in its next half-yearly report to the Kingdom Council of Ministers in January 2013.

 

"If the Kingdom Government receives signals that indicate insufficient transparency or a lack of measures by Curaçao's Government of the risks for the budget in general and in particular the government-owned companies, I will appeal to the Kingdom Government to address Curaçao on this matter," warned Plasterk. The Kingdom Government can request the CFT to supply (additional) information. The CFT has the right to request additional information from the countries.

 

In concluding, the Minister said he assumed Willemstad would take on its responsibility and adequately tackle the issues by supplying a timely and balanced budget and multi-annual budget, among other things.