(Trinidad Guardian) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Surinamese government to implement a more effective social protection programme.
Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday IMF representative Anastasia Guscina said civil service must also be streamlined more quickly and efficiently, so that civil servants can be paid higher salaries.
In recent days, an IMF delegation has been in Suriname meeting with the government and other stakeholders about the status of the economic recovery plan that is being implemented with financial support from the fund.
According to Guscina, since the implementation of the economic recovery programme plan supported by the IMF began in December 2021, the government should have done much more to financially compensate groups hit hard by the measures.
“That is why next year, conditions will be created in such a way that the government will have more room in the budget to respond to the needs of this part of the population. We will target a slightly lower primary balance next year. It’s important to spend money on social protection. And this is one area where the results have been disappointing. Social protection should never have been an afterthought”, Guscina said.
“When the IMF recommended the removal of fuel subsidies, phasing out electricity subsidies, and other measures on the one hand, at the same time there was supposed to be support for the population in terms of social protection programs.
I don’t know if people realize, but this is the area where the fund asked the government to spend more. It is a very different line item compared to all the others. In others, we say, ‘let’s consolidate’. This one we say ‘let’s spend more’. This is where there has been some underperformance”.
She argued that underperformance and efforts should be stepped up to meet the targets for end year and also to make sure that the money reaches the right people, and that the value of those payments is not eroded by inflation.
