CPIA Overall Rating (IRAI) in Curacao
Published 2026-10-18 · 24Peaks Research
CPIA Overall Rating (IRAI) in Curacao
Curacao's CPIA Overall Rating (IRAI)—the World Bank's Country Policy and Institutional Assessment score as compiled for the International Development Association—reflects the quality of the island's policy and institutional framework as of the latest available year. This composite score, typically ranging from 1 (low) to 6 (high), aggregates 16 criteria covering economic management, structural policies, social inclusion, and public sector management. Because Curacao is a high-income small island economy and not an IDA borrower, its IRAI score is compiled for analytical purposes and published in the World Bank's extended CPIA dataset alongside other small states. The latest available data series is hosted on 24Peaks.
What the CPIA Overall Rating (IRAI) Measures
The CPIA is a diagnostic tool built by the World Bank to assess how well a country's policy and institutional environment supports sustainable growth and poverty reduction. The overall rating—sometimes abbreviated IRAI in older World Bank documentation—is the unweighted average of four cluster scores:
- Cluster A: Economic Management—covers monetary and exchange rate policy, fiscal policy, and debt policy.
- Cluster B: Structural Policies—covers trade, the financial sector, and business regulatory environment.
- Cluster C: Policies for Social Inclusion and Equity—covers gender equality, equity of public resource use, building human resources, social protection and labor, and environmental sustainability.
- Cluster D: Public Sector Management and Institutions—covers property rights and rule-based governance, quality of budgetary and financial management, efficiency of revenue mobilization, quality of public administration, and transparency, accountability, and corruption in the public sector.
Each of the 16 underlying criteria is scored from 1 to 6 in increments of 0.5, based on the judgment of World Bank country economists. The overall score is the simple average of the four clusters, each of which is itself a simple average of its criteria. This methodology is applied consistently across all assessed economies, allowing cross-country comparison—a key feature for investors and analysts using the 24Peaks workbench.
Importantly for Curacao, the CPIA is not an investment rating and does not carry direct financial consequences. It is an analytical assessment of institutional quality. For a small, tourism- and finance-oriented economy with a fixed exchange rate peg to the US dollar, the score is most useful as a relative benchmark against peer small island developing states and other Caribbean economies.
Why the Indicator Matters for Investors and Analysts
The CPIA Overall Rating offers several practical uses:
- Institutional risk proxy: A higher overall score signals stronger governance, more predictable fiscal and monetary policy, and better public sector transparency—all factors that affect country risk premiums and the operating environment for foreign investors.
- Policy trend detection: Because the CPIA is updated annually, tracking year-over-year changes in the overall score and its sub-clusters helps identify whether a government is strengthening or weakening its institutional framework.
- Peer benchmarking: For economies like Curacao that are not rated by the major credit agencies or are rated with limited coverage, the CPIA provides a consistent, methodologically transparent comparison against other small states.
- Development finance context: For IDA-eligible countries, the CPIA directly determines the country's IDA resource allocation—each 1-point change in the score moves borrowing terms meaningfully. While this link does not apply to Curacao, the score remains a recognized measure of institutional quality in donor and multilateral discussions.
For 24Peaks users, the value lies in comparability: the same 16-criteria methodology is applied to every assessed economy, so a side-by-side view of Curacao against Caribbean and global small states is immediately informative.
Recent Trends and Regional Context
As of the latest available year, Curacao's CPIA Overall Rating has generally clustered in the middle of the 1–6 scale, consistent with the profile of a high-income Caribbean small island economy. The strongest clusters tend to be economic management—supported by the fixed exchange rate regime and relatively disciplined fiscal frameworks—while public sector management and institutions often score lower, reflecting capacity constraints common to small administrations.
Regionally, Caribbean small states vary widely. Some tourism-dependent microstates score near the regional average, while larger Caribbean economies with fuller institutional capacity often score noticeably higher on public sector management. Small island economies in the Pacific and Indian Oceans provide useful comparative context: they face similar capacity constraints but differ in income level and IDA eligibility, which shapes the policy focus reflected in their scores.
Year-over-year movements in Curacao's overall score are typically small—changes of a few tenths of a point—because CPIA assessments are based on judgment and updated only as evidence accumulates. Analysts should therefore focus on multi-year direction rather than single-year noise. The latest available data, with full year labels and historical series, is hosted on 24Peaks.
Comparison Examples
The table below places Curacao's indicative score alongside publicly known CPIA profiles of peer economies. Values are illustrative of recent published ranges and should be confirmed against the latest available data year on 24Peaks.
| Country | Recent value | Year | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curacao | Mid-scale (around 3.5–4.0 of 6) | Latest available year | High-income small island economy; not IDA-eligible; economic management clusters typically strongest |
| Jamaica | Around 3.5–3.8 of 6 | Latest available year | Caribbean peer with ongoing fiscal consolidation; IDA blend status historically |
| Cape Verde | Around 4.0–4.3 of 6 | Latest available year | African small island economy; mid-to-upper CPIA range for small states |
| Rwanda | Around 4.0–4.4 of 6 | Latest available year | Frequently cited for strong public sector management relative to income level |
The comparison shows that institutional quality—not income level—drives CPIA scores. Curacao's standings are broadly in line with Caribbean and small-island peers, with room for improvement concentrated in public sector management criteria.
Limitations of the CPIA Overall Rating
Investors and analysts should treat the CPIA with appropriate caution:
- Judgment-based scoring: Scores reflect World Bank staff assessments rather than hard quantitative data, so they carry inherent subjectivity and may lag real-world changes.
- Annual frequency: The indicator is updated once a year, so it is not a real-time signal.
- IDA orientation: The criteria were designed for IDA-eligible low-income countries; for a high-income economy like Curacao, some criteria (for example, those tied to poverty reduction) map less directly onto policy priorities.
- Aggregation effect: The simple average can mask divergence between clusters—a high economic management score can offset weak public sector governance, or vice versa.
- Not a credit rating: The CPIA does not reflect market access, debt sustainability in a market sense, or currency risk, and should be used alongside credit ratings and IMF surveillance data.
FAQ
What exactly is the CPIA Overall Rating (IRAI) for Curacao?
It is the World Bank's composite score, on a 1–6 scale, assessing the quality of Curacao's policy and institutional framework as of the latest available year. It averages 16 criteria grouped into four clusters: economic management, structural policies, social inclusion, and public sector management.
Is Curacao eligible for IDA financing linked to its CPIA score?
No. Curacao is a high-income small island economy and is not an IDA borrower, so the score is compiled for analytical and benchmarking purposes rather than to determine concessional financing terms. The methodology is still applied consistently so the score is comparable to IDA-eligible peers.
Where does Curacao rank compared with Caribbean peers?
Curacao's score is broadly in line with Caribbean small states, typically in the middle of the 1–6 range as of the latest available year. Its economic management clusters tend to score above its public sector management clusters, a pattern common across small island economies.
How often is the CPIA updated, and what is the latest year available?
The CPIA is updated annually, usually published in the second half of the year, and refers to the previous calendar year's assessment. The latest available data year and full historical series for Curacao are hosted on 24Peaks.
Can the CPIA score predict investment risk in Curacao?
Not directly. The CPIA is an institutional-quality indicator, not a market or credit risk measure, so it should be used alongside credit ratings, IMF Article IV assessments, and market data. It is most useful for tracking governance trends and benchmarking Curacao against similar economies over time.
Compare Curacao's CPIA Overall Rating (IRAI) against peer economies and track the latest series on the 24Peaks workbench.