Suriname celebrates its independence as protests continue

Suriname celebrates its independence as protests continue 

Happy Monday.

In a week revolving around the World Cup, Suriname happened to also celebrate its independence. The country was faced with protests against the government on the streets during the parade, as the Surinamese minister of finance met the Dutch Secretary of State to discuss debt restructuring.

Suriname celebrated its independence day last week on November 25, 2022, however, the parade was met with protests and a police crackdown on indigenous groups.

At the Srefidensi parades of the armed forces, recent protests continued. 

The parade had all the pomp and circumstance demonstrated by a police simulation in which soldiers jumped into the river from a helicopter and swam to reach a weapons vessel. Meanwhile, police clashed with an Indigenous group and activists as they have been asking for attention to be paid to their fundamental and human rights. In the parade, they sat in the middle of the route and forced the police to go around. The police forcibly removed people from the scene which led to riots between police and the soldiers.

As the police began to control the situation, people continued to spew vitriol from the sidewalks expressing their anger at the police. 

During the independence speech, President Santokhi spoke of the need to work together to rebuild the country. Stating that everyone could do better and he has to better to make Suriname livable and healthy and expressed that the country was taking the right steps.  

A chaotic situation in the city. Demonstrations on the streets. 

Activists, led by trade union leaders Ronald Hooghart and Michael Sallons have received support from groups, among them the opposition party, the NDP. People have been seen sitting in the street and blocking traffic as Sallons announced an ultimatum for the government to reach. The NDP has also announced that there would be a national action of protest around the need for more money for basic needs and controlling inflation. 

The protestors have submitted an open letter to the government with demands but the government is yet to respond. The unions have demanded that the exchange rate reverts to SRD 7.42 for the US Dollar, fuel price goes down to SRD 7.52 for a liter, and the ceasing of the current IMF program. 

Suriname and the Netherlands sign the Paris Club agreement to reschedule debt. 

On November 21, a bilateral agreement was signed to reschedule debt under the Paris Club agreement. This is the second agreement between the Paris Club which has also discussed restructuring with France, Israel, Italy, and Sweden worth approximately USD 95 Million. The first agreement was signed on the 12th of October with France’s Agence Française de Development (AFD). 

The debt rescheduled with the Dutch is debt to the ING bank worth 23.9 million Euros that was used to construct the Carolina Bridge. 

On December 31, 2021, the debt was 13 million Euros, and the debt not paid was around 4 Million Euros. Suriname was able to restructure the debt to pay it in the period 2030 to 2036 at much better terms which will lower its overall interest burden.