THE NETHERLANDS / SINT MAARTEN — Sint Maarten will receive 24 million Antillean guilders (ANG), over €11.3 million, of financial support from the Netherlands before the end of this year. This was decided by the Kingdom Council of Ministers today. The money will allow the government of Sint Maarten to pay current bills.
The amount of liquidity support is made up of ANG 14 million of support in the third quarter and ANG 10 million for the last three months of this year.
The financial aid granted now is part of the agreements made during the corona pandemic. The Netherlands then came to the aid of the countries with over a billion euros in interest-free loans, in addition to all kinds of medical aid and support with, for instance, food parcels through the Red Cross.
It was also agreed that in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the countries would not have to comply with budget norms. They say that no more should be spent than comes in. For any resulting budget gaps, countries were allowed to apply for additional aid in the form of interest-free loans, subject to conditions. For both the third and fourth quarters of 2022, Sint Maarten is now making use of this.
Curaçao and Aruba have not requested liquidity support. Now that the corona pandemic is expected to have entered a new phase, and the economies of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are picking up, the Kingdom Council of Ministers expects that all three countries will not need additional money from the Netherlands in 2023.
