During the public debate on the Second Budget Amendment for 2025, parliamentarian Xiomara Maduro raised several questions to Minister of Finance Geoffrey Wever regarding his management of public investments.
For 2025, AWG 79 million was allocated for investments, of which only AWG 15 million has been spent so far. The remaining funds, which could not be used for investments benefiting the people, should normally be used to pay down debt. However, Minister Geoffrey Wever resorted to a maneuver to “hold on to the money.” Parliament must therefore “watch out” for this form of “Geoffreynomics” involving public investment funds.
Investment
The parliamentarian explained that for 2025 the government budgeted AWG 71 million for investments, but by the third quarter only AWG 15 million had been spent. This is due to a lack of capacity to properly commit funds to clearly executable investment projects—an issue that has been known for many years.
In addition, Minister Wever allocated an extra AWG 8 million for investments. Despite questions raised by the Council of Advice, the minister persisted and included this amount as well. This brings the total investment budget for 2025 to AWG 79 million.
Investment Fund Not Ready
According to Minister Wever, he wants to place these funds into a special investment fund. However, the legislation required to establish this special investment fund is not yet ready. As a result, the AWG 64 million out of the AWG 79 million that has not been used for investments benefiting the people will have to be used to pay down debt.
This aligns with the position of the financial supervisor CAFT, which wants unused investment funds to be used to reduce Aruba’s debt more quickly. Minister Wever is not pleased with CAFT’s approach and therefore resorted to a tactic aimed at “holding on to the money” so it would not be lost to debt repayment.
Capital Injection (“Dotatie”)
In his response to the Council of Advice, Minister Wever explained that if he is unable to introduce the investment fund in 2025, he will “hold on to the money” through a capital injection to the balance sheet (“dotatie aan de balans”) of the Country of Aruba, so that the funds can be used once the investment fund is finalized in 2026.
It must be stated that this tactic of “holding on to the money” is not normal practice in Aruba’s public finances and does not earn any “financial beauty prize.” What we are witnessing here is simply the same kind of “trickonomics” that AVP favors in governance, which later results in damage to the people’s finances.
For this reason, Parliament must remain vigilant and “watch out” for this form of “Geoffreynomics” with investment funds, so that these financial tricks do not end up harming the people of Aruba.
Press Release Xiomara Maduro