News item | 20-05-2022 | 17:33
Various departments have joined forces to further support Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius. The investment is intended to provide an extra impulse to improve the living standard of the inhabitants of the Caribbean Netherlands. In addition, the free distribution of the public entities will increase sharply. From 2023, the cabinet will structurally invest 30 million extra in Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius. In addition, the ministries themselves will also contribute to the fight against poverty. This amount will be increased every year to 12 million euros structurally in 2025.
Those extra investments are desperately needed. Poverty and the standard of living have been the major issue in the Caribbean Netherlands for ten years now. A hurricane, inflation and a pandemic made the costs of daily living a lot more expensive. A total of 23 million will be added in 2022 and from 2023 that amount will be further increased to a structural 30 million. With the investment, the government is fulfilling the promise for structural investments in the coalition agreement.
State Secretary Van Huffelen: “Life in the Caribbean Netherlands is expensive. The costs for drinking water, electricity, telecom and housing are high. It is difficult for many people to make ends meet. With this investment we can first of all ensure higher incomes and benefits and lower monthly payments. In concrete terms, this means, for example, increasing benefits and the minimum wage, but also lowering living costs, such as drinking water and energy costs. Together with the government, I will continue to make efforts to ensure that everyday life becomes more affordable. In addition, in consultation with the islands, we make agreements about, for example, nature, climate and tourism.”
For example, there will be money for the conservation of nature and the environment and the implementation of the Nature-Environmental Policy Plan for the Caribbean Netherlands. The cabinet is investing 35 million euros in this during this cabinet term.
Specifically, it concerns the following measures:
- The statutory minimum wage and benefits will be increased annually from 2023, so that in 2025 the statutory minimum wage will be at the social minimum (+28% on Bonaire, + 18% on Sint Eustatius, + 23% on Saba)
- In addition, the amount of a single person in social assistance who lives independently will increase step-by-step from 55% to 70% in 2025;
- The amount of child benefit will be increased by $10 per July 1, 2022 and by an additional $10 per month per child from January 1, 2023.
- An unemployment scheme will be introduced in the Caribbean Netherlands;
- There will be structural subsidies for drinking water;
- Funds will become available for public housing, enabling the construction of 204 social rental homes on Bonaire to be accelerated and a first tranche of 10 homes on St. Eustatius to be renovated;
- Strengthening job placement through, among other things, a budget for training and development programs and retraining and further training programs
- Strengthening sustainable regional cooperation in vocational education, for example through the internship fund and strengthening the cooperation of training courses in the tourism sector with Curaçao and Sint Maarten;
- Significantly strengthen the resources for the public entities themselves, especially for the free distribution. From 2025, the island governments will structurally receive €13 million more resources for island tasks. In addition, € 10 million is available for incidental arrears.
The exact details of the amounts can be found in Appendix 1.