Senior economist at the Curaçao Chamber of Industry of Commerce, Dennis Dare, is inviting T&T businesses to invest in the Caribbean island of Curaçao, which he described as investor friendly with a strong and vibrant economy.
“Why Curaçao? As you can see, there are major aspects in our economy that are very attractive to tourists but also to those that would like to live here and to spend their last days in Curaçao. We also have fiscal incentives. We have land development. We also have an investment permit, which is also attractive for anyone wishing to invest. This can be obtained very easily when investing a certain amount,” he said.
Dare spoke last Thursday at a webinar on doing business with Curaçao hosted by the T&T Coalition of Services Industries (TTCSI).
He did a comparison of T&T’s and Curaçao’s economy.
Curaçao has a population of roughly 150,000 people, which Dare said, was slightly more than a tenth of T&T’s population.
He said Curaçao’s inflation rate was comparable to T&T’s at around 4.4 per cent.
Curaçao’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is US$3.5 billion, which he said was one seventh of T&T’s US$24.5 billion GDP.
He also highlighted Curaçao’s GDP growth rate, which has been growing due to an increase in public and private investment in utilties, tourism, real estate, the ship repair industry and construction projects such as new hotels.
He pointed to the downside of Curaçao’s economy, which included a high unemployment rate at 11 per cent which he said was more than double that of T&T’s.
According to data he shared, 73 per cent of T&T’s population worked in the services sector as compared to more than 84 per cent of Curaçao’s population.
The GDP per capita of Curaçao is US$23,000.
He said Curaçao’s tourism industry is doing much better now and will surpass the half million visitor mark in 2023.
He added that 42 per cent of the foreign exchange generated in Curaçao comes from the tourism sector.
Curaçao’s minimum wage is around US$6 per hour, compared to the T&T minimum wage of about US$3.20 per hour.
Growing commercial ties
TTCSI’s President Mark Edghill, who also spoke during the webinar, said over the past couple of years, Curaçao and T&T have been working assiduously to deepen the strong trade and economic ties they already enjoy.
“I am referring specifically to the General Framework Agreement signed on November 3rd, 2022, which paved the way for the current negotiations on a Partial Scope Trade Agreement between both countries. The Agreement will cover a range of components including market access; services; investments; non-tariff measures such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade and negotiations are expected to be completed by 2026.”
He added that Curaçao has a significant and diversified service-based economy with tourism, oil refining, financial services, ICT and bunkering accounting for some 84 per cent of the country’s GDP with 90 per cent of external trade coming from petroleum exports.
With respect to tourism, he said before the pandemic, Caribbean Airlines provided 300 seats per week on direct flights between T&T and Curaçao every Monday and Friday. And this arrangement was seen as an opportunity for Curaçao to not only expand and strengthen economic ties with T&T, but to grow its tourism specifically from the Caribbean region.
“Thousands T&T nationals were visiting Curaçao right up to the start of the pandemic in 2020, which sadly caused the abrupt halt of this trend and significant economic disruption and losses like most other countries across the globe. Today, three years on Curacao is being described as one of the Caribbean’s biggest post-pandemic success stories, after experiencing record tourism arrivals in 2023.”
He gave statistics which show that according to the Curaçao Hotel and Tourism Association, there were 43,352 stopover tourist arrivals in May 2023 alone—a 21.6 per cent increase compared to May 2022.
“The resumption in April 2022 of Caribbean Airlines’ twice weekly service between Trinidad and Curaçao has been beneficial for the tourism business. The Curaçao Tourism Board confirmed in September this year, that the island has reached and surpassed pre-pandemic levels for tourists, especially from the T&T market, with more than a 200 percent increase compared to 2022.”
He said there have been several trade missions between T&T and Curaçao, primarily featuring the manufacturing sector, since negotiations on the Partial Scope Agreement began.
“We anticipate that after today’s webinar, a mission featuring Services Sector entrepreneurs may not be too far off in the future.”
In terms of the trade in goods between T&T and Curaçao, he quoted statistics from the UN COMTRADE database on international trade, which show that Curaçao exported US$4.41 million worth to T&T in 2021, with the main products being tug boats, carbonates, and excavation machinery.
Over the past decade, Curaçao’s exports to T&T have increased at an annualised rate of 3.83 per cent. However, in 2021, Curaçao did not export any services to T&T.
He added that the UN COMTRADE database notes that in 2021, T&T’s exports to Curaçao were valued at US$3.76 million.
The main products exported were margarine, flavoured water and tissue. In that year, T&T did not export any services to Curaçao.