The government's near-term focus will be to revive the economy in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, which dealt a heavy blow to tourism. On June 5th all pandemic-related entry requirements were lifted for incoming international travellers, enabling a strong recovery in tourist arrivals in the following months. Despite the lifting of travel restrictions, the global economic slowdown (especially in Europe and the US) will present major headwinds to growth in 2023. Our bleak economic outlook for Europe and the US is likely to translate into subdued tourist arrivals from those markets in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first half of 2023 (which would ordinarily be the peak tourist season). This will deal a serious blow to Curaçao's tourism revenue, as Europe and the US accounted for nearly three-quarters of stayover arrivals to Curaçao in 2019.

Other items on the government's policy agenda include boosting production and exports by diversifying the economy; improving public-sector efficiency and tax collection; strengthening and expanding tourism; increasing alternative energy generation; developing a second port at Vaersenbaai Noord; and improving co-operation with the other Dutch Caribbean islands. However, Curaçao's scope for undertaking recovery measures will depend on the level of Dutch financing that it manages to secure. One item on the agenda that has made significant progress is the resumption of operations at the Isla oil refinery and the Bullen Bay Oil Terminal. Refineria di Korsou (RdK, the state-run refining company) announced in June that a consortium of US and Brazilian companies would operate the refinery and storage facilities. The facilities were being operated by PDVSA (the Venezuelan state-owned oil firm), but the lease expired in 2019. The contract is in the process of being drawn up, and operations are likely to restart in the coming months.