Member of Parliament Jennifer Reyes expressed her concern over the way situations in Aruba are growing and nearly turning into crises due to a lack of attention to structural issues that must be addressed.
According to Reyes, over the course of several years, it has been observable that these problems were not properly dealt with, and right now the country is paying the bill, reaching very troublesome situations.
Among the most prominent cases, Reyes started with the hospital’s situation, where management itself mentioned facing financial difficulties. In addition to this, the MP highlighted the situation of the schools, where there is an exceptionally large and extensive list of renovations urgently needed for Aruba’s schools.
Reyes pointed out that over the years, hard work went into lowering the debt-to-GDP ratio. However, in the media, the CFT (Board of Financial Supervision) mentioned that structural investment for Aruba is lacking.
The MP indicated that by the end of 2027, forecasts project the debt-to-GDP ratio reaching 53%. This anticipates that, while the goal was to reach a debt anchor (schuldanker) of 50% by the year 2035, that benchmark is already being reached several years earlier.
In light of this scenario, Reyes raised a question regarding the impact of spending cuts across the country:
“Now the question is: we have cut back significantly (bezuinig) on different topics, in different areas that deserve attention, where we could see, for example, the case of the HOH (Aruba Hospital), where they often kept budget amounts equal to those of perhaps 10 or more years ago.”
Reyes concluded that now, looking ahead, investments must be made due to the rising cost of living, which means that where there are current bills, there are difficulties in paying them.