The Curaçaoan government's efforts to implement structural reforms in 2020-21 will be met with limited success. Under the auspices of the Netherlands Financial Supervision Board for Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the island has made structural changes in recent years that should improve its fiscal position in the long term, including a rise in the retirement age from 60 to 65, an additional sales tax of 9% on luxury goods, a more progressive property tax and a reduction in the number of public servants (to ease the public wage bill)-other reform efforts have focused on healthcare, such as implementation of a basic medical insurance scheme and a preference for generic drugs to reduce costs.

Nevertheless, the implementation of other policy recommendations from the Dutch government and the IMF-including the introduction of a value-added tax (VAT) and greater labour market flexibility-has been slow and will continue to drag. The government's weak position and disinclination to shore up the public finances, in part owing to the poor state of the economy, will preclude any drastic fiscal tightening measures.

At the same time, the impetus to advance structural reforms will be overshadowed by actions to solve more commanding issues, such as finalising a new operator agreement for the Isla oil refinery and bringing about economic growth in the short-term (in part through a concerted effort to boost tourism arrivals). As a result, significant progress on long-term policy objectives-guided by the 2015-30 National Development Plan that seeks to boost competitiveness, improve infrastructure and further diversify the economy-is unlikely to be achieved in the forecast period.