But there are many more reasons why our co-operation has always been fruitful, and will remain so in the future. Indeed, although Aruba and the Netherlands have a different history and different traditions, our central banks have much in common. First of all, we both gave up much of our monetary autonomy a long time ago.
The Aruban Florin has been pegged to the US dollar since its creation in 1986. Likewise, the Netherlands had pegged its currency to the Deutsche Mark since 1983. This fitted in a longer tradition of stabilising the Dutch guilder vis-à-vis the Deutsche Mark since the demise of the Bretton Woods system in 1971.