The advance of the exchange rate has come to a halt since Tuesday, but there has been no significant decline. It is the desire of the acting President Ronnie Brunswijk that the exchange rate for US drops no less than SRD 2O for the US dollar before President Chan Santokhi return home. Governor Maurice Roemer of the CBvS, said that if the market parties act efficiently, a further slight decline is obvious.
The rate of the CBvS reflects the weighted average realized market rates of the foreign exchange banks and cambios. Roemer said that an important observation is that the rise in prices that had started in the past period has not continued and that on balance a slight decrease in prices has been realized up to and including the closing price on Thursday. The rate quoted by the CBvS on Thursday is SRD 27.80 for the US dollar and SRD 26.36 for the euro.
The Ministry of Finance & Planning intervenes in the foreign exchange market by making foreign exchange available to importers of basic goods and the oil companies. In addition to the means of intervention, large importers continue to exert considerable demand on the foreign exchange market. The governor noted the unfortunate situation of the foreign exchange market in our country which is still very inefficient. Some measures have a delayed effect, including the 35% retention scheme. Exporting companies must exchange at least 35% of their revenues with a foreign exchange bank at the rate recorded by the CBvS.
The governor of the CBvS said that the general aim is to eventually achieve a stable price level and that prices stabilize within a certain balanced band, through fundamental economic performance and not continuously through currency interventions, because the international reserves also have to be earned and built up first. Achieving acceptable levels is a challenge for us as a country and deserves a broad national approach.
