WILLEMSTAD - According to the vision document "Sembra awe pa kosechá mañan" (Sow today to harvest tomorrow) issued by the Chamber of Commerce (KvK), the economy is wrongly labeled in Curaçao as something of the employers and the rich. The KvK says that this is becoming a reality due to a lack of vision and policy, because it excludes large sections of the population from the opportunities that the economy offers.
It is important, says the Chamber of Commerce, that the economy is widely supported as the optimum instrument and is used in a targeted manner to improve the well-being of all residents of Curaçao.
“Economic policy and social policy are the head and tail of the same currency. Without one side of the coin, there is no other side of the coin. There must be an equal vision for the coin, otherwise we will run out of coins. It is also about translating the need for economic growth into targeted actions by all parts of the government, otherwise we will not get there,” says the KvK in their report.
All social partners and a large part of the population understand the absolute necessity of economic growth, the document continues, but it is not because of the “lack of common tools” to deal with it. “Choices must be made not in what presents itself as an opportunity, but in what we as a community choose.”
The bottom line is that every minister, every ministry, every parliamentarian and every citizen must understand the importance and necessity of a much faster growing economy, according to the Chamber of Commerce. “The economy is the engine of well-being and the outcome for both unemployment and the financial deficits of the existing and intended social safety net.”
Everyone needs to understand the importance of better organizing well-being. “It must also be clear to everyone that it is not about projects,” the vision document explains. “It is about making strategic choices for investments in 'signature activities' so that Curaçao can once again get a foothold in the new global (digital) economy, and furthermore that flexibility is more the rule than the exception in a continuous evaluation of the changing economic landscape and to respond to it in an appropriate strategic way.”
The Chamber of Commerce also emphasizes that investing in a better social infrastructure, without having the financial strength to do so, is irresponsible. All it does is aggravate the problem for the future.
“It is therefore essential that from a social perspective the economy starts growing as quickly and as sustainably as possible in order to make more resources and opportunities available.”
