ERIC GARCIA: CURACAO NOT READY FOR INDEPENDENCE
VBC Lunch Lecture Held Wednesday, December 14, 2011
According to Eric Garcia (CEO Girobank) “we need to be honest and acknowledge the fact that we are simply not ready for independence. Neither financially nor politically. Instead of continuously focusing on independence, our government should deal with the many macro-economic challenges our country is facing at this moment. Curacao’s growth has been lagging behind other countries in the Caribbean. Our poor economic performance is accompanied by a high unemployment rate, particularly among the youth. However, it seems as if our politicians do not perceive the low economic growth and high unemployment rate as major problems which, if not tackled, will lead to increased poverty and crime rates.”
The macro-economic challenges, which demand serious actions from the Curacao government, are: improving our competitiveness in order to stimulate sustainable economic growth, increasing our labor productivity, strengthen our main export sectors and reforming the system of social security.
Garcia: “For that, we need politicians who have the knowledge, courage and perseverance to take the necessary measures on the short term, as unpopular as some of these measures may be.”
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(15 December 2011)
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