Dear Editor,
At two separate diaspora and business engagement events, at different locations held for visiting Suriname’s President Chandrikapersad Santokhi, the audience was most impressed with his rattling off numbers about the country’s economy. President Santokhi is in New York for the Summit of the Future being held under the auspices of the United Nations. Santokhi talked about the important role Guyanese played and still play in Suriname’s economy and thanked them for coming out to support Surnamese in the New York diaspora.
Both Guyana and Suriname faced similar problems. Suriname’s economy was in shambles and went through a tough program for three years but has been on the mend. However, Santokhi faces a tough re-election next year and appealed for support for investment as well as for assistance in the campaign. Speaking without prepared notes at the Long Island event, and with notes in Richmond Hill, Santokhi said his government went through a second review of IMF structural adjustment program and received a positive feedback. The country is under a three years’ loan program with an extended facility.
When Santokhi became President in 2020, the country was bankrupt similar to Guyana. Some 85% of income were needed to pay interests on the loans. Suriname followed a similar structural adjustment prescribed by the IMF. He added: “Our Suriname dollar currency is stable; my government has stabilized it. Debt to GDP ratio was 150%. The norm is 60%. Now it is 85%. Budget deficit was 18% in 2020; the norm is 3%. Our deficit is now 3%. Economic growth was 16% in 2021. After three years, it is now, according to IMF, 3.5%. We had negative international reserve when I became President. From minus reserve, we now have $1.3 B reserves to support imports”.
He continued: “We have stabilized the economy at the macro level. We paid a very high social price as people were not pleased and it required a lot of sacrifices. But we got support from various sections of the society. The union leaders, business people, and the population at large were patient with us and I thank them for their indulgence. We did have a major strike in 2023 that led to arson, destruction of property, looting, robbery; calls for the President to go, murder in the interior, among other problems. It was a strong signal to me and the government. Then there was dialogue”.
He said: “We have implemented social program and have a safety net for the poor and pensioners. We reduced taxes. Anyone earning SRD 9,400 (US$320) monthly are not paying taxes and that is over fifty percent of state employees.
The government is paying electricity and water to protect poor people. We have increased salaries by 20%.” Santokhi said: “We are not allowed to borrow much. We are working and cooperating with the international community. Our government is one for the next generation.”
Sincerely,
Vishnu Bisram