During Monday’s meeting with the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) Parliament expressed concern about persons who want to exchange more than 2,500 Netherlands Antillean guilders (NAf.) in cash for Caribbean guilders (XCg.) needing to prove where the funds came from. This will occur when the new official currency of the two Dutch Caribbean countries goes into effect at the end of next month.
Members from both the coalition and opposition ranks referred to groups such as the elderly, informal sector workers and immigrants known to mostly keep cash. A survey by the same CBCS was mentioned, showing a high number of residents do not use the traditional commercial banking system.
The elected representatives have a point. Many people are also not very good about saving old pay slips and the like, while the employers involved may no longer be in business or unable to provide these any more.
Even doing away with cheques could have worsened this problem, whereby St. Maarten is to some extent a cash-based economy. Increasing the NAf. 2,500 threshold and a grace period were among the suggestions.
What might help long-term is the National Ordinance on Basic Payment Accounts presently being discussed (see related story) in Curaçao’s legislature. St. Maarten has a similar bill and these will obviously be synchronised for application across the monetary union.
In its current form, the new legislation would guarantee that every citizen should have access to a basic account for essential banking services and actively participate in digital payment transactions. Banks must provide such within just 10 business days.
Hopefully that can get fewer persons to require cash, which is – after all – a security risk as well. An inclusive approach certainly seems called for.
