I personally don’t understand why the Dutch don’t forgive some of Aruba’s debt, declared MinPres just recently, without blinking.
She added that personally, she cannot understand their position, not forgiving some of our debt maturing in October 2023, I think it’s over one billion, and she does not know how to explain it to her constituents. By that she means us.
An odd statement in light of the fact that our minister in the Netherlands knows what is happening, takes part in discussions, and sees where the wind blows, and how the times… they are a’changing.
Perhaps he should educate MinPres and also explain to us what eludes her.
I hope she reads this column, because the Dutch position makes sense.
At the unset of pandemic restrictions, in March 2020, our economic machine came to a standstill. The Dutch rushed generously to the rescue and EARLY on came up with a plan for reform. That plan also had a generous investment fund attached to it. If we were to accept the Landspakket and move on it mid-2020, tons of investment money could have come our way.
But we dragged our feet AND the pandemic which was supposed to take perhaps a few months at the most, lasted 3 years, and is still affecting us in many ways. The outflow of Dutch money was unexpectedly huge and unbudgeted, so naturally, austerity measures followed, budgets were slashed in order to balance the books.
The Ukraine war crisis came next and the Dutch are footing to bill for the defense of that country, in fear of the Russian bear also swallowing the Baltic states, once it digests Ukraine.
During the past years, the whole world saved and skimped, except us, because we knew in our delusional minds that we had a Landspakket coming with tons of investment money.
That money is no longer there, it was spent on aid, health care, in the Netherlands and on the Dutch islands.
Remember the Aruba hospital received all those ventilators, and medical personnel, and we got 4 vaccines each, this is where the money went.
If on top of all that generous pandemic aid, the Dutch would ALSO forgive debt, it would move a budget line from INCOME to LOSS, burdening their deficit further. Why would they shift their budget into red?
On a philosophical level, this debt forgiveness demand turns us into a nation of beggars, we should be self-supporting, and draw back that outstretched hand.
Everyone does their best to save and skimp, we should too, before the next crisis hits.
