Willemstad – The Board of financial supervision (College financieel toezicht – Cft) is of the opinion that the budget of 2013 for Curaçao currently complies with the norms as stipulated in the Kingdom Act on financial supervision Curaçao en Sint Maarten.
In its evaluation Cft has taken a number of factors into account, including the instruction. The Cft concludes that the instruction has significantly, but not yet completely, been complied with. Four of the six sections have been met. An agreement is reached with the government on the coverage of deficits of the previous years, and the vacancy stop will be upheld. Meanwhile sufficient trust has been built up to allow for the government in principal to take out loans again for investment purposes, provided that the measures included in the budget are in fact implemented.
The Board of financial supervision has given a positive advice concerning the adopted budget for 2013. Herewith Cft expresses its appreciation for the drive and the direction the government has applied in the past months to take measures to get the out of control public finances back on track. The Board of financial supervision is of the opinion that with the adopted budget for 2013, four of the six sections of the instruction have been met.
Two sections of the instruction are still applicable for the Cft. Primarily this implies maintaining the vacancy stop. The intentions of the government to come to a smaller and more determined administration and the additional package that is being prepared to absorb possible setbacks, show that the original considerations to initiate a vacancy stop are still current. This part of the instruction therefore will remain applicable, with the exception of the so called critical functions. These may still be filled, as has been agreed on last September by the Cft and Curaçao.
The second section is that it is still required to compensate the deficits of the past years completely and in a timely manner. The Cft and Curaçao do not agree on the height of the designated reserve, which has been formed on 10-10-’10 out of the BRK funds, and that Curaçao amongst others wants to use for this purpose. In good consultation with the government it was agreed to wait on the reports of the accountant and the General Audit Chamber (Algemene Rekenkamer) on the financial statements.
Considering that the Cft has given positive advice on the adopted budget 2013, in principal Curaçao may take out loans for investment purposes. With this the policy included by the government in the budget to stimulate the economy, such as major maintenance of school buildings and infrastructure, can be executed. The moment a concrete petition for a loan is submitted, the Cft will evaluate this petition according to the current guidelines in the Kingdom Act. This means that the measures that are included in the budget but that have not been taken as yet, particularly the tax measures, have to be implemented by then, just as possible losses and deficits have to be compensated. For a possible loan for a new hospital, in addition there has to be a balanced business case, including the execution of the measures that are necessary for a responsible exploitation of the hospital.