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36 37 THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE – ARUBA to becomeAruba’sMinister of Finance,a fewweeks later,when his predecessor,JuanDavidYrausquin, resigned his office. TheMinistryof Finance is responsible for: n Advising on the preparation and im- plementation of the financial-economicpoli- cy taking into account good governance; n Drawing up,moni- toring,and advising on the establishment and implementation of the budgets of the country; n Delivering a substantial contribution to theMinis- ters and departments concerning the annual recurring process of the policyand budgetarycycle; n Managing the country’s cash flow spending; n Managing its administrative/financial information,both on a national and interna- tional level; n Monitoring the compliancewith theAccounting rules. TheMinister of Finance overseesAruba’sTreasury and two income generating departments: the Customs Department and theTaxOffice.TheTreasuryadmin- isters and handles the receivables and the accounts payable of the government; the Customs Department andTaxOffice generate approximately95 percent of the country’s income. When Bermudez tookoffice,hismajor concerns were to stabilizeAruba’s finances bygetting expenditures under control,andmoving to get a balanced bud- get within several years,followed byyears of budget surpluses,so that the countycould start paying off its national debt-an especiallychallenging curriculum since,over the preceding years,Aruba’s economyhad been battered by two negative forces: the global finan- cial crisis and the closing of theValero EnergyCorpora- tion’sAruba oil refinery,the third largest in the Caribbe- an,and,at 275,000-barrels-a-day,a heavycontributor to the country’s revenue. “And that’s basically the big challenge that I’m facing here,”Bermudez said,when BusinessViewMagazine spokewith him,recently.“Thismeans,in practice,that I’m trying tomanage and control the expenditures of the eight Ministries.We are the ninthministry,but we are the income side of the budget and the other eight AT A GLANCE THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE – ARUBA WHAT: A Ministry of the Government of Aruba WHERE: Oranjestad, Aruba WEBSITE: www.overheid.aw