Natalia Koster

Centrale Bank van Curaçao en Sint Maarten

The Bank's most important objectives are to maintain the external stability of the Netherlands Antillean guilder (NAf.) and to promote the efficient functioning of the financial system in the Countries Curacao and St. Maarten. To realize these objectives, the Bank, as the supervisory authority, has frequently recurred to credit control measures and/or to change the discount rate. The functions of the Bank, explicitly summed up in the Bank Charter, are; First, the Bank is the only institution entitled by law to issue paper money in the Countries Curacao and St. Maarten. The Bank also is charged with the circulation of coins. Second, the Bank supervises banking and credit institutions to guarantee depositors and other creditors funds at banking and credit institutions in particular and the soundness of the financial sector in general. Third, the Bank manages the foreign exchange reserves of the Netherlands Antilles, which includes regulating of the transfer of payments between residents and nonresidents of the Countries Curacao and St. Maarten. Finally, the Bank acts as the government's treasurer by receiving and making payments from and to the public through the tax collector's accounts at the Central Bank.