WILLEMSTAD--The Netherlands has paid NAf. 962.1 million since the beginning of the debt restructuring for the Antilles. This consisted of NAf. 732.8 million in loan payments (both Central Government and Curaçao at 366.4 million each) and 70 per cent of the interest: NAf. 229.3 million (Central Government 124.1 million and Curaçao 105.2 million).
The Netherlands Antilles and Curaçao have debt titles, while the other islands including St. Maarten and other entities only have payment arrears. The debt restructuring for the Central Government began January 1, 2009, and for Curaçao, April 1 of last year.
Although debt restructuring of the Island Territory had started later, Curaçao was reimbursed for 70 per cent of interest payments over the period January up to and including March 2009. From October 2009 up to and including February 2010, the debt restructuring amounted to NAf. 404.8 million (Central Government 249 million and Curaçao 155.8 million).
The figures appeared in an appendix that caretaker State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten (CDA) had forwarded to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament.
During the meeting of the Political Steering Group on December 9, 2009, an agreement was reached on redemption of the to-be-restructured debt titles from the Other Collective Sector (OCS) of Curaçao. It had been agreed at that time that the OCS debts of Curaçao would be dealt with in the same manner as those of the Central Government, which will be completed in October 2010.
For Curaçao, the debt restructuring amounts to more than NAf. 43 million. This is part of the maximum amount that the Netherlands will restructure in loans of Curaçao, which was transferred last month.
The Central Government and Curaçao have not taken on any new loans since the debt restructuring began. Therefore, no use was made of the current subscription.
As of January 2009 up to the beginning of the debt restructuring in April 2009, Curaçao subscribed to loans three times, for which the Netherlands had signed, in conformity with the agreements on the current subscription. In total, the Netherlands was assigned NAf. 74.5 million.
In conformity with the repayment schedule, NAf. 16.5 million of that amount was repaid before the end of May 2009. Another NAf. 12 million was repaid in June 2009.
The remaining NAf. 46 million was repaid in October 2009, in accordance with the schedule. Therefore, there are no outstanding loans, according to Bijleveld-Schouten.
"One of the essential points of monitoring the debt restructuring is that the administrators of the Netherlands Antilles and the Island Territories are personally responsible for the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the data of the debts to be restructured, regarding the debt papers as well as the payment arrears. Moreover, they must submit this data to the Netherlands accompanied by an auditor's certificate.
"The Netherlands has drawn up a control protocol for these monitoring activities by the accountant. The protocol outlines margins and tolerances comparable to control standards applicable to the Dutch Government. Regarding restructuring of debt titles, only those accompanied by an approved auditor's certificate will be restructured," Bijleveld-Schouten explained.
The matter is somewhat more nuanced for the restructuring of payment arrears. A "possible stipulation" is also included in these agreements, as there was and is a possibility – certainly regarding Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (BES Islands) – that the issuance of an approved auditor's certificate might not be feasible.
This stipulation implies that one could still decide to make payments if it is made sufficiently plausible that the payment arrears concerned already existed on December 31, 2005, and they ensued from the tasks and responsibilities of the island/federal administration.
Other agreements have been made for payment arrears from the BES Islands regarding 2006 and 2007, which also qualify for restructuring, up to a maximum of NAf. 50 million. For this purpose, there is a requirement that the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT gives a positive advice regarding the accuracy of the arrears based on the assessment of the annual accounts of the Island Territories.
