Happy Lunar New Year from DeBrief

Happy Monday and Happy Lunar New Year!

This week we celebrate the new lunar year and the year of the rabbit. We're covering the recent raise in threshold costs of the Academic Hospital, the status of Suriname's loans in 2022, and the Ministry of Finance and Planning's method of decreasing the outflows of foreign reserves in Suriname.

AZP director: Urgent consultation necessary about threshold costs

• The General Director of the Academic Hospital Paramaribo (AZP) is seeking alternative financing options for the increased threshold costs of the emergency department, which has been maintained by the government.

• The threshold costs have been raised from SRD 300 to SRD 500, with patients over the age of sixty paying SRD 400.

• The Director argues that the adjustment is necessary due to increased healthcare costs and has been postponed for a long time.

• Emergency services are not subsidized, and an average of SRD 60 million is needed annually to keep the emergency department operational.

• A meeting is scheduled for next Friday with the government and the National Hospital Council to discuss financing hospital care. The Director is also the President of the National Hospital Council.

The Surinamese government signed US$314.4 million in loan agreements in 2022

• The Santokhi government has signed US$314.4 million in foreign loans in 2022, through 7 agreements, 6 with Inter American Development Bank (IDB) and 1 with IMF.

• In 2022, the government drew US$ 137.1 million from already signed loans, and in 2021, US$102.6 million from foreign loans, for a total foreign national debt of US$2.2 billion as of November 2022.

• According to the National Debt Act, the domestic national debt is US$938.7 million, and according to the international definition, it's US$734.3 million.

• Using the National Debt Act, the total national debt is US$3.2 billion and using the international definition, it's US$3 billion. However, the head of government has stated that the national debt is US$4 billion, but this is not true according to the National Debt Bureau.

• The government has failed to implement its National Debt Plan, and is accused of continuing to blame the previous government for the debt while drawing from loans made by the previous government and entering into new loan agreements.

• The government is accused of lying to come to power, and some believe that they will continue to do so to stay in power, despite the country's economic woes.

Raghoebarsing sets up Retention Monitoring Unit

• The Retention Monitoring Unit, established by the Minister of Finance and Planning, Minister Stanley Raghoebarsing will ensure that all foreign currency earned from exports comes to Suriname and that 35% of it is available for necessary imports.

• The unit will monitor compliance with the rules of the Foreign Exchange Commission to stabilize exchange rates and prices.

• The small gold mining industry cooperated well with previous measures to stabilize rates and prices in the first half of 2021, but the measures were discontinued due to pressure from the IMF.

• The Retention Monitoring Unit is composed of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Foreign Exchange Commission, Tax Authorities, and Central Bank of Suriname.

• President Chan Santokhi believes that if all agreed measures are implemented, the exchange rate can be made manageable. However, he also stated that not everyone is following the agreements and if dialogue fails, sanctions will have to be imposed.

• The IMF wants a floating exchange rate, not a fixed rate by the Central Bank of Suriname, the government is in talks with the IMF to change that.

• The government's priority is to control the exchange rate and prices to restore peace to society, and there are no plans to increase the customs rate.