Parliamentarian Xiomara Maduro rejects the attempt by Minister of Kingdom Relations Gerlien Croes to present HOFA as a necessary condition for Aruba to obtain investment funds.
According to Maduro, Minister Croes’ statement that Aruba has no money for investment does not match the Government’s own official figures. The fourth-quarter implementation reports (Uitvoeringsrapportages) for 2023, 2024, and 2025 show that the Government budgeted a considerable sum for investment, but failed to execute a large part of it. “The main problem is not that Aruba lacks budgeted money for investment. The problem is that the Government fails to prepare and execute projects,” Maduro stated.
More than 105 million florins unexecuted Official figures from the Government’s official fourth-quarter implementation reports for 2023, 2024, and 2025 show the following:
*In 2023, 51.6 million florins were budgeted for investment. Of this, 43.3 million was realized, or 83.9%.
*In 2024, 66.1 million florins were budgeted, but only 13.8 million was realized. This is barely 20.9%.
*In 2025, the Government budgeted 74.5 million florins for investment, while realization was 30 million, around 40%.
Between 2023 and 2025, the Government budgeted a total of 192.2 million florins for investment. Of that sum, only 87.1 million was realized or registered as realized. Therefore, more than 105 million florins that the Government itself budgeted for investment was not executed.
“Minister Croes must explain this contradiction. How can she conclude that Aruba has no money for investment, while the Government fails to execute the investments already included in its own budget?” Maduro asks.
HOFA does not fix the lack of execution According to Parliamentarian Maduro, the figures indicate that Aruba has a serious problem with planning, project preparation, administrative capacity, coordination, and leadership. HOFA could facilitate access to financing, but HOFA cannot prepare projects for the Government, cannot force ministries to execute their budgets, and cannot fix the lack of capacity, planning, and political accountability.
“If the Government cannot execute investments that are already budgeted, borrowing more money does not automatically translate into more investment. The risk is that it simply becomes more debt for the people of Aruba to pay,” Maduro emphasized.
A loan is not a gift. Every florin the Government borrows must be repaid, with interest, through government revenue and ultimately by the people. Therefore, it is irresponsible to use the need for investment as an emotional argument to introduce more debt without first demonstrating that the Government has the capacity to prepare, execute, and monitor projects.
The Minister is manipulating the discussion Maduro considers Minister Croes’ presentation incomplete and manipulative because she presents the lack of funding as the sole problem, while omitting the obvious lack of execution visible in the Government’s own documents. “You cannot tell the people that there is no money without telling them that more than 105 million florins of budgeted investment was not executed. This leaves out an essential part of reality to create the impression that HOFA is the only solution,” Maduro said.
Before Minister Croes continues to present HOFA as the solution for investment in Aruba, she must account for:
*Why more than 105 million florins of budgeted investment between 2023 and 2025 was not realized;
*Which projects were not executed and why;
*What administrative obstacles caused the delay;
*How the Government will improve its capacity to prepare and execute projects;
*And how the Government will prevent borrowed money from simply becoming more debt for the people to pay.
Good governance before more debt Aruba definitely needs to continue investing in infrastructure, schools, healthcare, security, housing, and economic development. But responsible investment begins with well-prepared projects, an administration that can execute them, and a Government that accounts for the outcome.
“HOFA cannot fix the lack of execution. Good governance, administrative capacity, transparency, and accountability can,” Maduro concludes.
