Secretary of the state Alexandra Van Huffelen sent a letter to the government of Aruba last week stating that she does not believe Aruba will comply with the DRAFT, that is the documents for the pledge.
At first, the bail agreement must be finalized before October 10 or the debts will mature. But at the same time in the letter, Huffelen indicated that if Aruba does not end, the important thing is to stay on the table to reach an agreement before the end of the year and thus the interest will decrease to the low interest.
According to Aruba’s Prime Minister Evelyn Wever, the fact that Aruba has not been cleared in time has to do only with the pre-recessions. The Netherlands has let go of some of the RAFT requirements, something the Aruba parliament last May said they were not interested in. Just before the recess this was discussed twice in parliament and now there is a framework in which it can be negotiated to understand what the parliament has said. Now that Staatsecretaris Alexandra Van Huffelen has given the space to define and now Aruba and the Netherlands are next on the table.
At the meeting in the Netherlands Staatsecretaris van Huffelen voiced that the Netherlands can offer Aruba nothing more than a refinancing with an annuity coming in a term of 20 years at a percentage of 6 to 8%. Prime Minister Evelyn Wever Croes is of the opinion that Aruba should not be afraid of this part because all of Aruba’s loans are at market interest of 6 to 8%, but the prime minister believes that in the end the percentage will fall to 6.25% which is a percentage that Aruba should not be afraid of because Aruba has the funds to pay.
In the budget, the government has taken into account a percentage of 3.5%, meaning that if it becomes 6.25%, there is an additional 30 million that are included in the budget before it is dealt with and that Aruba has already seen with the economic development of Aruba is singing so well. This is because the people who didn’t pay their taxes are now paying their taxes where the tax department is going after the big fish that they’re not paying and that’s 30 million going into the government’s coffers.
Prime Minister Evelyn Wever Croes believes that Aruba should not be afraid because Aruba can afford the percentage that the Netherlands will give without any fear.