Till the elections in 2025, Suriname will continue to be in a severe situation. This is stated in a press release from the British financial services firm EMFI Securities Limited. According to the IMF, President Chan Santokhi’s steadfast stance to raise royalties for small-scale mining in order to safeguard Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk will not alter the circumstances in Suriname under the current administration, according to EMFI.
According to EMFI, we continue to believe that Santokhi’s government will oppose as long as the alliance with vice president Brunswijk exists. Santokhi has done everything in his power to keep the VP on his side, including hiring his brother as director of the electricity company EBS and disobeying IMF directives by not raising royalties for small-scale mining (a sector in which the VP has substantial interests). While different political parties, including the ABOP of vice president Brunswijk, are preparing for the upcoming elections in 2025, it appears that Suriname will remain in the status quo with an even worse problem and no political reforms.
The Santokhi government has not finished carrying out a number of measures that the IMF has demanded, it was reported this month, thus the assessment has been delayed until June. The Santokhi government has been attempting since late last year to hasten the adoption of a number of pending reforms in order to obtain the IMF funding tranches, but the government was unable to do so due to rising social unrest and disputes over the implementation of the necessary measures.
“With the onset of the protests, we anticipated that the government would be able to implement the reforms on time and that the IMF would be more accommodating. Apart from the National Debt Act revisions and the passage of the 2023 budget, no reform progress was made last month. Both reforms were necessary for the enlarged fund facility, but the majority of the unpopular measures, such the elimination of gasoline and energy subsidies and the full implementation of VAT, are still pending, according to the press release.
