Member of Parliament for the MEP faction and former Minister of Finance, Xiomara Maduro, has brought forward a strong questioning regarding the financial tensions between Aruba and the Netherlands. According to Maduro, the Netherlands’ decision to impose a 6.9% “strafrente” (penalty interest rate) lacks a fair basis, considering the island’s impeccable track record of compliance. Furthermore, even without Aruba having a HOFA (Rijkswet Aruba financieel toezicht / Kingdom Law on Financial Supervision for Aruba) in place at the moment, one can already see the practice of the Netherlands wanting to continuously impose and gain power over Aruba, having implemented a penalty interest rate anyway. Can we imagine what will actually happen to our powers once the HOFA is accepted?
A Track Record of Compliance
During her intervention, Maduro emphasized that the core of the parliamentary debate should be the lack of necessity for stricter supervision, given that Aruba has already had this in place since 2015. She recalled that prior to the pandemic, the debt owed to the Netherlands was minimal, standing at around 2.5 million Euros.
“Aruba has always fulfilled its obligations, not only with the Netherlands but also on the international capital market for more than 20 years,” Maduro declared. Even during the pandemic crisis, the island never defaulted on its payments to international investors.
The Impact of the “Penalty Interest”
The MP questioned the “fear” that the Netherlands pretends to have regarding Aruba not paying back its debts. She qualified the 6.9% interest rate as an unnecessary financial punishment. According to presented calculations, this high interest rate means that the Netherlands is making around 300 million Florins on the backs of the Aruban people.
Pandemic Debt: Aruba owes a debt of 915 million Florins to the Netherlands due to loans acquired during the healthcare crisis.
International Credibility: Aruba has a record of over two decades of fulfilling payments in markets such as the United States.
Upcoming Payment: On October 10th, Aruba must once again make this high-interest payment, which confirms the country’s willingness to comply.
For MP Maduro, the Netherlands’ argument for maintaining structurally heavy financial conditions does not align with Aruba’s historical reality as a responsible payer. Nor does it align with what unites us in our Charter (Statuut) and what the Netherlands voices every time about the need to work together. It is one thing to say something, but another to act contrary to what is said.
Xiomara Maduro: “Aruba has no history of being a bad payer,” yet the Netherlands still imposed a penalty interest rate
