PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC -The Suriname government says it remains confident of reaching an agreement with China to reschedule its US$537 million debt after Paramaribo announced last week it had reached a deal with India to reschedule its US$39 million deficit.
“Although it is not yet the commitment we would like to have, I think China will think along with us to resolve this issue,” said Finance and Planning Minister Stanley Raghoebarsing.
Raghoebarsing told the state-owned Suriname Communications Service (SCS) that the Asian country is a good partner and that agreeing on a rescheduling also gives more prospects for doing business with China.
He expects the International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board to decide next week on the progress of the staff-level agreement with Suriname.
The involvement of the IMF was also a condition of the creditors before debt restructuring could be negotiated. Raghoebarsing explains that convincing the IMF about the Surinamese situation takes much time.
“It is not always easy, but it is important that the IMF is with us,” he said.
Raghoebarsing said that in addition to negotiations with foreign creditors, discussions are also taking place with domestic creditors that had been neglected in the past, dating back to 2001.
He said this includes the SRD350 million (One SRD=US$0,02 cents) in fuel subsidies and overdue debts to suppliers and contractors.
The authorities said that while SRD700 million in overdue debts had been paid for 2023, there is still an outstanding amount of one billion SRD.
The Administrator General of the Bureau of the National Debt, Malty Dwarkasing, says. At the same time, there are significant arrears owed to foreign countries. Those debts are mainly bilateral, including Brazil, Spain, and Japan.
But Raghoebarsing said the difference now is that Suriname also has to negotiate with private international creditors. These so-called bondholders make the situation even more difficult as both parties have separate interests.
“We serve the interest of country and people; they serve the interest of their capitals. You have to find each other somewhere,” he said, agreeing with Dwarkasing that achieving the debt restructuring with the Oppenheimer bondholders is the first in the world to have been successful in three years.
He also said that Suriname’s debt position is better, and the government can pay salaries from its resources.
“Today, we pay eight to nine billion in salaries, SRD16 billion in social benefits, subsidies to the business community, and four billion in tax exemptions. We are slowly but surely seeing results from the sacrifices. We are not there yet, but we will get there.”
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