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local Saturday 20 auguSt 2022

Minister of Economic Affairs announces national program for

financial education

ORANJESTAD – Minister of
Economic Affairs, Commu-
nication and Sustainable
Development, Geoffrey
Wever announced during a
press conference on Thurs-
day the introduction of a
program of financial edu-
cation, “Finanzas den mi
Hogar”.

Wever highlighted that fi-
nancial education is a very
important topic for every
citizen’s wallet. In Aruba,
financial education as a
concept is still not part of
the education system, and
as a consequence, many
people confront financial
hardship. As minister of Eco-
nomic Affairs, he believes it
is important for consumers
to be well prepared, for
them to know their rights
and to have financial
knowledge.
“As minister of Economic
Affairs, on the one hand
you stimulate and you want
a strong economy, but you
also want to have a con-
sumer who is aware of his
rights, a consumer who is
well protected and knows
his position in the market”,
Wever said. 25% of citizens, one in four in the training. Participation about tomorrow, to invest
“In this context, we decid- households, don’t have a is free and will deal with in his children’s’ education.
In this context, the Govern- ed to come up with a finan- pension arrangement. Less four topics of finances. And the last topic is “ba-
ment of Aruba finds it very cial education program in than 2% of households is sic budget”, which will be
important to stimulate the order to give the citizens considered financially fit, The first topi is “I am ef- based on the topic of how
ability and financial knowl- who are interested in par- while 16% are financially fective in my household”, to create a monthly bud-
edge of every citizen, par- ticipating in it the possibility stable, 34% are financially which is focused on how get for the household and
ticularly in his role as minis- to receive a type of train- dependent, and 20% are the citizen spends the mon- how the citizen spends his
ter of Economic Affairs he ing that perhaps before financially disturbed. ey that he has at home in income.
believes that the economic they didn’t have access to. his own household. The sec-
formation and wellbeing of The government thinks it is With this information, minis- ond topic reflects the sub- The program “Finanzas den
each citizen is important, important to facilitate this”, ter Wever emphasizes that ject of “debt payment”. mi Hogar” will take about a
and the government wants he said. he wants to illustrate that Wever highlights that a year to be completely exe-
to contribute to that. there are families going lot of citizens have debt cuted. Each neighborhood
The minister of Economic through difficult situations in various financial institu- will receive these four top-
Wever commented that Affairs also presented some and are not well equipped tions and many times they ics and there will be differ-
the current situation is not numbers illustrating why a financially. “With this in- have so much debt that ent nights during one year
easy in Aruba or in the financial education pro- formation we reached they cannot pay their dues. where they will receive ed-
world. Price of gasoline, gram for the citizens is rel- the conclusion that as a The goal of this part of the ucation on this field.
water and electricity has evant and necessary. government we have the course is to teach the citi-
gone up as well as infla- He referred to a report duty to do this for our citi- zen that when they are in With this program, the gov-
tion, and in this context, based on a survey execut- zens, and for this reason we such a situation, they need ernment of Aruba wants to
the citizen keeps seeing ed by Central Bank of Aru- came up with the program to approach institutions, demonstrate that the finan-
his purchasing power re- ba, called “The Financial of financial education ‘Fi- reach payment agree- cial wellbeing of the citi-
duced, he sees he was less Wellbeing of Households”, nanzas den mi Hogar””, he ments, and avoid that the zens is important and that
money to spend. And in this which indicates that 36% added. problem accumulates. they believe in investing in
context, Wever believes it is of households have finan- the people. “This is a very
important for the citizen to cial worries. Tree of each The program will be avail- The third topic is “I invest small step, it’s not a solution
become more aware of household spends more able in six districts: San in my future”. Wever indi- for the financial problems,
the way in which he spends money than they make, Nicolas, Savaneta, Santa cated that a lot of citizens but it’s part of a greater
his money, how he enters and half of these house- Cruz, Paradera, Oranjestad don’t think about tomor- context”, Wever said.
financial commitments holds are financially fragile and Noord and will give the row and spend everything
which will have a long-term and have too much debt. possibility to 50 participants today. This is an element to
impact. in each district to take part teach the citizen to think