Willemstad- The Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) expects the GDP of Curaçao to contract by 21.4% this year.

This estimate is a downward adjustment of 1.0 percentage point compared to the projection presented in the Annual Report 2019. The downward revision is caused mainly by a higher decline in expected stay-over arrivals in 2020 compared to 2019, a worsened labor market, and a higher projected inflation on the back of the surcharges imposed on fuel and energy by the government.

Partial recovery

In 2021, a positive economic turnaround of 6.5% is projected. The 2021 outlook is based on the assumptions that Government will introduce the ABB tax and eliminate the current Sales Tax, tourism will continue to pick back up and that the refinery will resume activities with investments in the year 2021.

The Central bank warns that in spite of the projected 6.5% recovery, the level of GDP still will be lower than the pre-COVID level.

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