American analyst Patrick L. Schmid believes that the administration of Suriname President chandrikapersad santukhi could represent a unique opportunity for a competitive US regional policy, in particular, santukhi ran his election campaign on the basis of an anti-corruption program.
Since taking office, he has sought to revive law enforcement institutions, as Patrick Schmid, professor of Comparative Politics at the school of public affairs of the American University and stern & Morley Hills consultant who has been working in Latin America and the Caribbean for 25 years, says, “the U.S. government praises Santokhi’s leadership on the fight against corruption, and considers Suriname a great partner in the region.
Schmid added, in a report published by the American magazine “National Interest”, and quoted by “German”, that “the goal of the US State Department is to promote a democratic and stable Suriname”.
The Santokhi administration inherited a disastrous economy that shrank by 15 percent during 2020 and the currency lost 80 percent of its value. Suriname has defaulted on its external debt three times since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Import costs have increased and inflation has risen to 74 percent, in 2021 Suriname asked for help from the IMF, but he refused. The Bouterse administration abandoned the IMF bailout package in 2016 after receiving the first payment of 81 million dollars, and then resorted to China and others to borrow about 1.5 billion dollars, a debt that is now strangling the economy.
However, the IMF has prepared a new program in 2021 that requires Suriname to reduce its public spending. The IMF stopped providing the loan in March 2022, citing Suriname’s failure to take certain measures, but finally resumed payments.
Austerity measures taken by the government at the request of the IMF triggered violent riots in February 2023 in the capital Paramaribo, including the Storming of Parliament.
