PARAMARIBO, Suriname – Finance and Planning Minister, Stanley Raghoebarsing, says Suriname’s national debt fell by SRD6.5 billion (One SRD=US$0.03 cents) in the first quarter of this year compared to the last four months of 2023.
Stanley RaghoebarsingBut the government acknowledges that it will take at least 13 years before the legally established liability ceiling of a total of 60 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) is achieved.
Raghoebarsing said that an overview of the gross national debt (GND) for the past three months shows that the foreign national debt currently amounts to SRD 92.7 billion, which is SRD 4.2 billion less than the previous quarter. The domestic government debt fell from SRD 27.6 billion to SRD 25.2 billion.
“The IMF’s Debt Sustainability Analysis showed that the country will need approximately 15 years to achieve the statutory ratio, he said.
While the foreign debt/GDP ratio is legally set at 35 per cent, it is currently far above the legal standard at 103.7 per cent. The domestic debt/GDP ratio looks a lot better. Legally this is set at 25 per cent, but now it is 28.2 percent.
The total debt-to-GDP ratio is 131.9 per cent, more than twice the legal limit. According to the National Debt Law, which was amended on September 30, 2020, the government must bring the debt ratio below 60 per cent within six years after the law comes into effect.
Raghoebarsing said that at the end of 2020, the ratio was 147 per cent according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and 121 per cent according to the Public Debt Bureau. Three years later, in 2023, the National Debt Act was amended again indicating that the government must have achieved a total liability ceiling of 60 per cent within a period of 13 years.
“It was already clear in 2022, when the amendments to the law were discussed in committee, that the government will need more than six years to reduce the ratio to 60 per cent. The IMF’s Debt Sustainability Analysis that year showed that the country will need approximately fifteen years to achieve the statutory ratio,” .Raghoebarsing added.
The National Debt Bureau is currently collecting all information to present the domestic national debt.
As of July 2023, overdue payments from local suppliers of goods and services have been included in the outstanding debt retroactively to December 2021.
