Curaçao ministries must each cut 1.42 million guilders to keep fuel prices low

May 5, 2023  –WILLEMSTAD – If the Council of Ministers chooses the option of not levying a six percent value-added tax on wholesale purchases for fuel, all nine ministers must find 1.42 million guilders within their ministries to cover those costs. This was stated by the Minister of Finance, Javier Silvania. 

If the cuts cannot be found, the price of fuel will rise by 29 cents per liter. If wholesalers do not pay a six percent VAT rate, the price of fuel will rise by 16 cents per liter. 

Silvania emphasized that his colleagues’ efforts must be structural in nature. It is a total amount of nearly 13 million guilders that the tax authorities will miss out on if the value-added tax is abolished for wholesalers.  Proposal There is a proposal on the table to reverse the 25 percent RdK discount. But Silvania advises the Council of Ministers to cancel the former discount at a later date to prevent consumers from facing an even greater increase in fuel prices.