During a press conference, the Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs, and Primary Sector, Mr. Geoffrey Wever, elaborated on the first preliminary execution figures of the 2026 Budget for the first quarter of 2026. In accordance with the financial supervision law, the Department of Finance compiles the Execution Report (Uitvoeringsrapportage – URK) every quarter. The Execution Report contains preliminary figures from the central administration of the Country of Aruba, as well as figures received from entities such as AZV, SVB, ATA, Serlimar, SEPB, and the University of Aruba, which form part of the collective sector. CAft received the execution report for the first quarter of 2026 on time, in accordance with the law.
In the context of transparency and to inform the community in a structural manner, the Government will elaborate every quarter on the execution of the 2026 budget, just as it has been doing since the AVP-FUTURO Cabinet was sworn in on March 28, 2025.
Government revenues show an increase of 24.8 million florins in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. According to the 2026 Execution Report for the first quarter, a total of 439.5 million florins was received in revenue. This is equal to 22.6% of the total revenue amount in the 2026 budget.
Of the 439.5 million florins in revenue received, 115.4 million florins (or 26 percent) relates to Direct Taxes, 231 million florins (or 53 percent) relates to Indirect Taxes, and 93 million florins (or 21 percent) relates to other types of revenue. The government receives more than half of its revenue from Indirect Taxes.
Regarding Indirect Taxes, the government received a total of 117 million florins in BBO/BAVP revenues during the first quarter. This is an increase of 8 million florins (or 8 percent) compared to the first quarter of 2025. Import duty revenues (invoerrechten) rose from 58 million florins in the first quarter of 2025 to 62 million florins in the first quarter of 2026. This is an increase of 3 million florins (or 6 percent). The increase in BBO/BAVP and Import Duty revenues is the result of higher economic activity. This positive development is also reflected in the revenues received from the Tourism Tax (Toeristenheffing). In the first quarter of 2026, the government received a total of 33.8 million florins in tourism tax. Compared to the 28.8 million florins received in the first quarter of 2025, Tourism Tax revenue rose by 5 million florins (or 17 percent). This growth illustrates the positive development of tourism.
In the first quarter of 2026, government expenditures reached an amount of 390 million florins. Of these 390 million florins, 122 million went to personnel costs, 47 million to Goods and Services (Goederen en Diensten), 47 million to interest, 63 million to subsidies, 72 million to transfers (overdrachten), and 39 million to Contributions and Depreciation (Bijdrage en Afschrijvingen). Compared to the first quarter of 2025, this shows an increase of 15 million florins. This increase is the result of, among other things, an extra increase of 150 florins in the reparation allowance (reparatietoeslag) for pensioners since January 1, 2026, and improvements in the salary structure of management staff (kaderpersoneel) and education. Regarding the standard for personnel costs, the realization for the first quarter of 2026 stands at 1.96 percent of GDP. If this trend continues, Aruba will comfortably meet the 10 percent standard—with a projection of 9.1 percent by the end of the year. The government is establishing a commission that will draft proposals to guarantee structural compliance with the personnel cost standard in the long term.
In 2026, the Country of Aruba must pay a total of 648 million in debt. In the first quarter, an amount of 154 million was paid toward debt. Total interest expenses in 2026 amount to 282 million florins, of which 48 million florins was paid in the first quarter of 2026.
According to the first execution report of 2026, government debt stands at 4.9 billion florins, which is equal to a “Debt-to-GDP ratio” of 61 percent. The total debt of the Country of Aruba decreased to 61 percent of GDP. This is a reduction of 3.6 percentage points compared to the previous quarter and notably below the 70 percent level at the end of 2024. The collective sector debt stands at 60 percent of GDP. Aruba remains on the right track to reach a maximum debt of 50 percent of GDP before 2040.
Preliminary figures for the first quarter of 2026 show a financial result for the collective sector of 1.5 percent of GDP, which is equal to a surplus of 118 million florins. The preliminary result for the first three months of 2026 shows that Aruba is complying with the budgetary standard according to the Financial Supervision Law (LAft). For the Country of Aruba, the financial result is 0.6 percent of GDP for the first quarter of 2026, compared to a financial result of 0.7 percent of GDP in the first quarter of 2025.
With the timely submission of the execution report for the first quarter of 2026, the preliminary financial result shows a financial policy by the AVP-FUTURO Cabinet that gives back to the community and complies with the financial supervision law. Expenditures remain within the budget framework. Revenues are rising as a result of positive developments in tourism, while the debt is decreasing, according to Minister Geoffrey Wever.
Minister Geoffrey Wever thanks the Department of Finance for the compilation work, and the other government departments, as well as AZV, SVB, ATA, Serlimar, SEPB, and the University of Aruba for their contribution to the execution report of the Country of Aruba.
