WILLEMSTAD--Interim Director of the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) Leila Matroos-Lasten gave a lecture on the bank's strategic plan during a busy Curaçao Business Association VBC luncheon during which she mentioned the decision to introduce a new currency for the monetary union per January 1, 2021.
There has been talk about replacing the Antillean guilder since the Netherlands Antilles was dismantled per 10-10-10.
An option explicitly being looked at is a Caribbean guilder that is linked to a digital regional currency. CBCS signed a memorandum of understanding with Bitt Inc. last month to conduct a feasibility study into a digital guilder.
Matroos-Lasten further indicated that there are two strategic goals for the First Focus Area “Monetary Stability of Curaçao and St. Maarten.” The first is to guarantee monetary stability by maintaining the value of the currency.
“We will assess the effectiveness of our monetary policy mechanism, particularly our operational target of three months of import coverage, and our main monetary policy tools. We also started with the preparations for an evaluation by the IMF of the monetary union and the effectiveness of our monetary policy,” she said
The second goal is to promote sustainable socio-economic growth in a dynamic environment. “We conduct research and provide advice to the governments of Curaçao and St. Maarten on a vast array of topics that are particularly relevant for our economies,” added Matroos-Lasten.
