## 1surea2025003-print-pdf

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [1surea2025003-print-pdf](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/cr/2025/english/1surea2025003-print-pdf.pdf)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/-/media/files/publications/cr/2025/english/1surea2025003-print-pdf.pdf.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/-/media/files/publications/cr/2025/english/1surea2025003-print-pdf.pdf.json)

---

### EXECUTIVE SUMMARY — Context and near-term outlook
- Completion and financing:
  - Upon completion of this ninth review—first ever IMF-supported program Suriname will have completed—SDR 46.8 million (about USD 61.2 million) would be made available.
  - Of the SDR 46.8 million scheduled for the ninth review, SDR 33.6 million (72 percent) would be made available for budget support.
- Macroeconomic backdrop and reforms:
  - Economy growing; inflation receding; donor support increasing; public debt declining; credit rating upgrades noted.
  - Central Bank Act (2022) strengthened CBvS autonomy; recapitalization completed.
  - New VAT introduced; fuel subsidies eliminated; subsidies on electricity, water, and gas reduced; social assistance spending doubled; successful restructuring of official and privately-held debt.
  - AML/CFT regime strengthened; Anti-Corruption Commission established; legislation in train to require annual income and asset disclosures by public officials.
  - Financial sector oversight improved; asset quality reviews undertaken.
- Oil sector and institutions:
  - Final Investment Decision (FID) announced October 2024.
  - Total Energies and partners expected to invest about USD 12 billion during 2025-31 (with an estimated effect on the local economy of about USD 1.2 billion).
  - December National Assembly approved legislature to strengthen the Savings and Stabilization Fund Suriname (SSFS) and to put in place clear fiscal rules to manage oil resources.
- Near-term indicators and outlook:
  - Growth expected around 3-4 percent in the next few years but step up to 50 percent in 2028 as oil production from block 58 comes online.
  - Employment returned to pre-pandemic level.
  - Poverty: 2022 — 17.5 percent of total population; 25 percent of citizens in the interior below poverty line.
  - Headline inflation: 9.8 percent y-o-y in January 2025 (down from over 60 percent in December 2021).
  - Nominal exchange rate: appreciated 21 percent Jan–Aug (year not specified), then depreciated 15.4 percent early October–mid-November; exchange rate since stabilized.
  - Usable international reserves: 6.4 months of imports (about 130 percent of ARA metric), up from 2.4 months in December 2021 (and 0.4 months of imports, 8 percent of ARA when government took office in July 2020).
- Sovereign debt restructuring and VRI:
  - Agreements reached with all bilateral and all-but-one commercial creditor; negotiations ongoing with remaining commercial creditor.
  - Baseline assumes VRI paid according to new oil revenue sharing arrangement and official creditors activate provisions to revise debt payments once new oil revenue realized.
- Carbon credits and natural assets:
  - Launched world's first sale of carbon credits under Article 6 (August).
  - Forests cover 93 percent of the country; absorb over 20 million tons of carbon per year.
  - Estimated carbon credit price USD 25-35 per ton; around 90 potential buyers expressed interest but no sale yet.
- Risks (selected):
  - Near-term downside: policy implementation constraints; election-related spending pressures; pressure to bring forward spending or invest in low-return projects; contingent liability risks from large-scale oil investments.
  - Financial sector risk: materialization of credit losses in a fragile banking system could precipitate deposit outflows.
  - External risk: worsening terms of trade (lower oil and gold prices).
  - Medium-term upside: additional oil discoveries, bauxite exploration, possible declines in funding costs as oil projects near completion.

### PROGRAM PERFORMANCE — overall and targets
- Overall assessment:
  - Principal objectives of the EFF arrangement broadly met; program supported Suriname through a nascent BOP crisis and the pandemic.
- Quantitative performance criteria (end-December and continuous PCs):
  - Authorities met all end-December quantitative PCs and continuous PCs except the floor on the primary balance of the central government.
  - Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of central government (floor): multiple reporting periods show "Not Met" entries across the sequence.
  - New natural resource revenue-collateralized debt contracted by or on behalf of the CG and/or SOEs (continuous ceiling): Met across reporting rows.
  - New central government guaranteed debt (continuous ceiling): Met across reporting rows.
  - Non-accumulation of central government external debt arrears (continuous ceiling): Mixed — Met and Not Met entries across reporting rows.
- Structural benchmarks (SBs):
  - Met (3): publishing the quarterly budget execution report (continuous SB); submission to auditor of EBS 2021 financial statements; signing MOU underlying domestic debt payment processes (end-December SB).
  - Implemented with delay (4): hiring 25 staff by Tax Department; publication of EBS 2019–2020 financial statements and audit reports; introduction of quarterly expenditure ceilings for line ministries; launching FX trading platform.
  - Not met by end-February 2025 (1): amendment to anti-corruption legal framework for income and asset declaration for high-ranking officials (revised amendment approved by State Council and submitted to National Assembly; unlikely to move forward until after elections).
  - Two SBs not met but expected in March: Publication of CBvS IFRS audited FY22 statements; establishment of TSA for subset of line ministries.
- Drought-related effects:
  - Drought lowered hydroelectric production, reducing EBS transfers to budget as reliance on higher-cost thermal generation rose.
  - Drought caused failure of rice crops, emergency assistance to farmers, disrupted river access to interior districts and increased helicopter supply spending.

### FISCAL MANAGEMENT — measures, fiscal framework, and social spending
- 2025 budget and corrective measures:
  - Authorities resubmitted 2025 budget consistent with achieving a 2.7 percent of GDP primary surplus.
  - Budget underpinned by corrective measures of at least 2 percent of GDP.
- Corrective measures (selected):
  - Revenues:
    - Fuel excise tax increased and to be further increased in June (corrective measure, yielding 1.6 percent of GDP).
    - Administrative procedures and registries operationalized to underpin non-tax revenue collections (air navigation fees, land leases, land conversion fees).
    - Review of various government levies to ensure consistency with generalized rise in prices.
  - Capital expenditure:
    - Infrastructure allocation reduced (corrective measure, yielding 0.4 percent of GDP).
    - Projects subject to more rigorous project appraisal emphasizing economic and societal desirability.
  - Electricity:
    - Revised budget incorporates higher spending on electricity subsidies due to critical Afobaka dam water level and EBS renting emergency generators.
    - Budget assumes timely EBS budget transfers; commission established to evaluate EBS finances and suggest reforms.
- Tax administration and VAT:
  - Tax Department recruited 25 new staff; legislation to convert Tax Department into a Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authority passed December 2024.
  - Over 4,700 companies registered for VAT; enforcement actions to clear outstanding VAT refunds and impose penalties/interest for late filing and payment.
  - Fiscal Identification Numbers made mandatory for all importers and exporters to facilitate cross-matching.
- Wage bill and civil service:
  - Civil servant wages raised by 15 percent on average, backdated to July 2024; another 5 percent increase in January 2025.
  - Unregistered government employees (4 percent of total public workforce) to be removed from payrolls in March; hiring freeze extended one year.
- Electricity and energy subsidies:
  - Average electricity tariffs for households increased by more than 80 percent since start of 2023; subsidy cost reduced by 1.3 percentage points of GDP.
  - Tariff adjustments linked to oil price, exchange rate, and thermal/hydroelectric mix; electricity expected to reach cost recovery for households by end-2026.
  - LPG prices increased 200 percent in September 2023 and further 27 percent in June 2024; quarterly adjustments planned to fully eliminate subsidy by September 2026.
- Social assistance:
  - Social assistance spending increased from 1.5 to 3.7 percent of GDP since end-2021 (Purchasing Power Enhancement cash transfer program).
  - Program floor on social assistance spending met throughout 2024 with a margin of SRD 330 million (0.2 percent of GDP).
  - Monthly online reporting on average cash transfers by district being published.
- Arrears and debt management:
  - All domestic debt arrears cleared; continuous IT on non-accumulation of domestic debt arrears met.
  - Suppliers and VAT refunds outstanding almost 4.3 percent of GDP at end-2024.
  - Authorities plan to clear suppliers and VAT refund arrears of SRD 3.3 billion (2.3 percent of GDP) in 2025 and schedule clearance by 2027.
  - Measures to prevent new arrears include prior authorization for contracts above threshold; government not legally responsible for unauthorized contracts.
  - Need to establish electronic system to automate debt securities payments.
- Fiscal rules and SSFS:
  - December 2024 legislation introduced two fiscal rules: (i) target for public debt (net of assets in the SSFS) to be reached by end of five-year period; (ii) annual primary expenditure limits consistent with debt target.
  - Totality of mineral government revenue to be received by SSFS; every five years government sets numerical fiscal rules in a Financial Five-Year Plan (FFYP) submitted to National Assembly.
  - SSFS to manage resources independently; CBvS designated operational manager for three years; Board and Investment Advisory Committee appointed; annual independent audit to National Assembly.
  - Escape clause for national disasters allows Minister of Finance to request temporary suspension of fiscal rules and additional withdrawals from SSFS.
- Fiscal outlook:
  - By 2029: increase in oil revenue should support primary surplus of 4.6 percent which will bring debt-to-GDP ratio to 9 percent of GDP by 2035.
  - GFNs expected to decline from 7.7 percent of GDP peak in 2024 to 1 percent of GDP by 2028.

### MONETARY POLICY, FINANCIAL STABILITY, AND FX
- Monetary stance and transition:
  - Restrictive targets for reserve money growth helped bring down inflation; stock of reserve money fallen back to historical average as share of GDP.
  - Scope exists to move to a more neutral stance as inflation falls further.
  - Preparatory priorities to transition over next 3 years:
    - Move from quantities to interest rates as primary operational target.
    - Establish well-functioning interbank market for short-term liquidity.
    - Establish an intermediate target (e.g., inflation projection).
    - Improve CBvS institutional structure and technical capacity.
- Implementation measures:
  - Discontinue selling CB liabilities to retail investors; limit OMO counterparties to supervised institutions.
  - Do not renew liabilities held by retail investors as they mature.
  - Develop domestic money market; enhance collateral framework; improve banks' liquidity management; modernize financial market infrastructure; digitize domestic debt market.
- FX market and reserves management:
  - Electronic FX trading system launched; regulations updated to be consistent with Fund MCP policy.
  - CBvS strengthening FX reserves management and operations.
  - CBvS Council and Executive Board fully constituted in line with 2021 safeguards and 2023 Central Bank Act.
  - FY21 financial statements published August 2024; FY22 expected March 2025 (end-January SB not met).
  - MOFP included resources for central bank recapitalization in 2025 budget; registered SRD 8.4 billion in bonds for recapitalization; injected SRD 1 billion into CBvS in February (fully implementing recapitalization plan agreed August 2024).
- Liquidity and bank vulnerabilities:
  - Private sector credit growth rose significantly in last quarter of 2024; credit expected to continue growing in 2025.
  - Liquid assets comprise 52 percent of total assets (concentrated in one systemic bank).
  - NPLs 6.8 percent as of end-November (slight decline vs end-September).
  - Systemic banking capital adequacy reported at 22 percent as of November 2024.
  - One small private bank with capital shortfall (2.4 percent of banking system assets) being resolved or liquidated.
- Supervisory recommendations:
  - Enforce bank recapitalization plans; ensure state-owned banks run commercially; any future support only to viable banks with clear exit strategy; improve risk management, stress testing, gather interconnectedness data; operationalize bank resolution framework; establish comprehensive credit registry; develop macroprudential toolkit and extend to NBFIs.
- Virtual assets and AML/CFT:
  - Draft Virtual Asset Service Providers Supervision Act prioritizes AML/CFT risk mitigation and client asset protection.
  - AML/CFT Act amendments approved July 2024.
  - CFATF December 2024 plenary: Suriname upgraded for eight FATF recommendations and compliant or largely compliant with 21 of 40 recommendations.
  - Remaining actions: (i) enhance AML/CFT supervision for all financial institutions; (ii) risk-based supervision for DNFBPs; (iii) provide resources to FIU and Gaming Control Board; (iv) increase ML/TF investigations, prosecutions and confiscations; (v) amend International Sanctions Framework for UN resolutions on Terrorism and Proliferation Financing.

### DEBT RESTRUCTURING, DSA, AND MEDIUM-TERM RISKS
- Restructuring achievements:
  - Agreements reached with all bilateral and all-but-one commercial creditor; formal debt exchange with bondholders finalized November 2023 (new bonds USD 650 million + USD 10 million fees).
  - Bond coupon: 4.95 percent cash and 3 percent capitalized until January 2026, then 7.95 percent.
  - Amortization: 14 semi-annual installments starting 2027 (1/14th each).
  - VRI accepted by bondholders conditional on block 58 oil revenues; DSA treats VRI payments expected to materialize from 2028.
  - CBvS legacy debts restructured into loan with 2-year grace and 27-year maturity; short-term advances repaid in 2023.
- Key DSA projections (baseline):
  - Public debt (percent of GDP): 2023 = 98.2; 2024 = 87.2; 2025 = 86.6; 2026 = 81.2; 2027 = 75.4; 2028 = 39.9; 2029 = 27.3; 2030 = 23.0; 2031 = 18.6; 2032 = 15.0; 2033 = 12.0.
  - Public debt change contributions and automatic debt dynamics detailed across 2023–2033 (values reported verbatim in source figures).
  - Real GDP growth (memo) projections: 2023 = 2.5; 2024 = 3.0; 2025 = 3.2; 2026 = 3.7; 2027 = 4.0; 2028 = 50.3; 2029 = 27.5; 2030 = 3.8; 2031 = 2.7; 2032 = 1.2; 2033 = -1.6.
  - Inflation (GDP deflator): 2023 = 38.5; 2024 = 12.5; 2025 = 7.7; 2026 = 6.0; 2027 = 5.9; 2028 = 17.8.
  - Gross financing needs (GFNs): 2023 = 7.4; 2024 = 7.5; 2025 = 5.2; 2026 = 3.7; 2027 = 6.5; 2028 = 1.1; 2029 = 0.4.
- Debt anchors and targets:
  - Reduce public debt to 60 percent of GDP by 2035.
  - Reduce GFNs to an average of 9 percent and an upper limit of 12 percent over 2023–35.
- Financing assumptions and contingencies:
  - GFNs peak in 2024 at 7.7 percent of GDP temporarily boosted by principal payments on multilateral debt and arrears clearance.
  - Baseline assumes Staatsolie financing and a contingency-liability stress test of approximately 14.3 percent of GDP included in DSA.
  - Staatsolie planned drawdown up to US$610 million for 2024/2025; Staatsolie financing to exercise 20 percent equity stake in block 58 estimated USD 2.6 billion by June 2025.
  - Under contingent liability shock, GFN increases to 18 percent of GDP in 2025 and debt-to-GDP reaches 100 percent in 2025 before easing to 46 percent by 2028.
- Assessment:
  - Debt judged sustainable; risk of debt distress assessed moderate.
  - Medium-term risk: Moderate overall per DFI and GFI modules; probability of missed crisis 2024–2029 if stress not predicted = 9.1 pct; probability of false alarms = 42.0 pct.

### DIGITALIZATION, CONNECTIVITY, AND SOCIAL DIVIDENDS
- National Digital Strategy 2023-2030:
  - Aim: strengthen digital infrastructure, digitalize government departments, provide affordable internet access.
  - Estimated cost: about 0.3 percent of GDP per year in additional investment to achieve full internet access across settlements by 2030.
- Progress and gaps:
  - Internet penetration increased from 31 percent in 2010 to 75 percent in 2022; fixed broadband growth slow.
  - TeleSur market share estimated 85-90 percent; operates 279 cell towers; > half support 4G; 5G roll-out downtown.
  - SUR-IX Internet Exchange Point inaugurated November 2022.
  - Rural internet: 19 out of 392 villages have internet access.
  - Mobile cellular data package price: Suriname 4.86; Belize 2.44; Guyana 0.92; Latin America and the Caribbean 1.55; Emerging Market Economies 0.76 (percent of monthly GNI per capita).
- Social dividends:
  - Social protection: Beneficiary Information System (BIS) launched; IDB-supported revamp; beta website projected online by May 2025.
  - Education: 29 percent of public and subsidized schools have internet access; 40 percent of youth 15-24 possess at least one ICT skill; disparities: 10 percent youth in interior vs 46 percent in urban areas.
  - Health: Digital Health Agenda Vision 2030; plans for interoperable national Electronic Health Record and Health Information Exchange Platform with PAHO and IDB.
- Policy recommendations (selected):
  - Invest in digital infrastructure (0.3 percent of GDP per year per IMF DICE) and expand rural access.
  - Incentivize telecom providers to expand to remote areas; explore off-grid solutions (solar, satellite).
  - Prioritize digital literacy and teacher training; provide digital teaching kits.
  - Formalize an eGovernment agency; streamline regulatory frameworks for data privacy and cybersecurity; promote interoperability.

### CLIMATE, NATURAL ASSETS, AND CARBON CREDITS
- Climate vulnerability and institutional reforms:
  - Suriname is carbon negative but low-lying coastal concentration creates climate risk.
  - NIMOS transformed into National Environmental Authority Suriname (NMA) with mandate for environmental impact assessment and mitigation.
  - Dondru repository created for climate mitigation/adaptation information.
  - Public investment manual to include climate and flood risk management by May 2025.
- Carbon credits and forests:
  - Forest coverage: 93 percent.
  - Carbon absorption: over 20 million tons per year.
  - Carbon credit price estimate: USD 25-35 per ton.
  - August: launched world's first Article 6 carbon credits sale (no sale yet).
- Climate finance:
  - Seek TA from development partners to assess benefits and identify conservation projects and potential guarantors.

### PROGRAM MONITORING, DATA, AND REPORTING
- Reporting and program data:
  - Extensive reporting templates and high-frequency data obligations (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly) specified to monitor monetary, fiscal, and financial targets.
  - Fiscal data to Fund within six weeks after month; balance sheet and monetary survey within two weeks; CBvS balance sheet within two weeks; CG domestic/external debt stock within four weeks.
  - Quarterly BOP within 60 days; IIP within two months.
- Statistics capacity:
  - Progress on monetary, fiscal, financial, national accounts, prices and BOP statistics; further work needed for GDP timeliness and disaggregated CPI data.
  - Authorities increased statistics office budget and approved salary increases.
  - Specific objectives: produce quarterly GDP; improve CPI monthly subcomponents; broaden fiscal statistics institutional coverage; publish monthly domestic arrears.
- Program financing and access:
  - Fund credit outstanding including projected purchases under proposed arrangement will peak in 2025 at 13 percent of GDP and ~21.4 percent of exports of goods and services and 32.4 percent of usable international reserves; remain elevated through 2028.
  - Total debt service to the Fund will peak at 1.3 percent of exports of goods and services and 6.8 percent of usable international reserves in 2028.
  - Program continues fully financed with firm commitments for next 12 months and good prospects beyond program expiry in March (year implied 2025).

### KEY RISKS AND POLICY PRIORITIES (select items)
- Short-term risks:
  - Policy implementation capacity constraints; election-related spending pressures; drought impacts on electricity and agriculture; contingent liabilities from large oil investments and Staatsolie financing to exercise stake in block 58.
- Financial sector risks:
  - Rapid credit growth; concentration of liquidity in one systemic bank; one private bank with capital shortfall (2.4 percent of bank assets).
- Medium-term upside:
  - Further oil discoveries; bauxite exploration; lower funding costs as oil projects near completion.
- Policy priorities:
  - Maintain fiscal consolidation to cement debt sustainability; resist temptation to spend oil inflows before materialization.
  - Persevere phasing out electricity subsidies; improve tax administration; enhance social assistance targeting; comprehensive review of public wage bill.
  - Build liquidity buffer, expand TSA, improve PFM, complete institutional reforms for SSFS and fiscal rules.
  - Strengthen CBvS capacity for transition to interest-rate based regime; deepen domestic money markets; operationalize bank resolution framework; scale-up AML/CFT and anti-corruption measures.

*Source: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY and selected sections — 1surea2025003-print-pdf.*

### EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

### EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

### Context and recent developments
- Program completion and financing:
  - Upon completion of this ninth review—the first ever IMF-supported program that Suriname will have completed—SRD 46.8 million (about USD 61.2 million) would be made available.
- Macroeconomic backdrop and reforms:
  - The economy is growing, inflation is receding, donor support is increasing, public debt is declining, and credit rating agencies have upgraded Suriname’s sovereign debt rating.
  - The Central Bank Act approved in 2022 has strengthened the autonomy and governance of the central bank and its recapitalization has been completed.
  - A new VAT was introduced; fuel subsidies have been eliminated; subsidies on electricity, water, and gas have been reduced; spending on social assistance programs has doubled; the government successfully restructured its official and privately-held debt.
  - The AML/CFT regime was strengthened, an Anti-Corruption Commission was established, and legislation is in train to require annual income and asset disclosures by public officials.
  - Financial sector oversight has improved, asset quality reviews were undertaken, and vulnerabilities of the banking system have lessened.
- Oil sector and institutions:
  - Final investment decision (FID) announcement in October 2024.
  - Total Energies and its partners are expected to invest about USD 12 billion during 2025-31 (with an estimated effect on the local economy of about USD 1.2 billion).
  - The authorities are putting in place institutions to transparently manage this resource windfall; in December, the National Assembly approved two pieces of legislature to strengthen the Savings and Stabilization Fund Suriname (SSFS) and to put in place clear fiscal rules to manage oil resources.
- Near-term outlook and indicators:
  - Growth is expected to be around 3-4 percent in the next few years but step up to 50 percent in 2028 as oil production from block 58 comes online.
  - Employment has returned to its pre-pandemic level.
  - Poverty: In 2022, 17.5 percent of the total population and 25 percent of citizens in the interior were living below the poverty line.
  - Headline inflation fell to 9.8 percent y-o-y in January 2025 from over 60 percent at the start of the program in December 2021.
  - Nominal exchange rate movements: appreciated by 21 percent from January-August, then depreciated 15.4 percent from early October to mid-November; the exchange rate has since stabilized.
  - Usable international reserves now stand at 6.4 months of imports (about 130 percent of ARA metric), up from 2.4 months in December 2021 (and 0.4 months of imports, 8 percent of ARA metric when this government took office in July 2020).
- Sovereign debt restructuring and VRI:
  - Sovereign debt restructuring agreements reached with all bilateral and all-but-one commercial creditor; active negotiations continue with the remaining commercial creditor.
  - With oil from block 58 in the baseline, it is assumed that the value recovery instrument (VRI) will be paid according to the new oil revenue sharing arrangement in the private bond exchange offer and that official creditors will activate provisions to revise debt payments once new oil revenue is realized.
- Carbon credits and natural assets:
  - Suriname launched the world's first sale of carbon credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (August).
  - Forests cover 93 percent of the country and absorb over 20 million tons of carbon per year.
  - Estimated carbon credit price is USD 25-35 per ton; around 90 potential buyers have expressed interest but no sale has yet been made.
- Risks:
  - Near-term downside risks: policy implementation challenges given binding capacity constraints; social and political pressures for increased spending in the run-up to elections; pressures to bring forward spending or invest in low-return projects; large-scale oil investments magnify contingent liability risks.
  - Financial sector risk: materialization of credit losses in a fragile banking system could precipitate deposit outflows and financial instability.
  - External risk: worsening terms of trade, particularly lower oil and gold prices.
  - Medium-term upside risks: additional oil field discoveries under active exploration could boost growth and employment, raise living standards, increase export and fiscal revenues, strengthen the balance of payments, and improve debt dynamics; prospects from bauxite exploration and possible declines in funding costs as oil projects near completion.

### Program performance
- Overall assessment:
  - The principal objectives of the EFF arrangement have been broadly met; the EFF-supported economic recovery program supported Suriname through a nascent balance of payments crisis and the pandemic.
- Quantitative performance criteria (end-December):
  - The authorities met all the end-December quantitative performance criteria and continuous PCs, except for the floor on the primary balance of the central government.
  - Main factors behind fiscal underperformance: slower-than-expected non-tax revenue growth and a repeat of payment delays from the state-owned electricity company linked to last year’s drought.
- Structural benchmarks (SBs):
  - Three SBs met:
    - Continuous SB on publishing the quarterly budget execution report.
    - Submission to the auditor of EBS 2021 financial statements.
    - End-December SB on signing a memorandum of understanding underlying domestic debt payment processes and procedures supported by IMF Technical Assistance.
  - Four SBs implemented with delay:
    - Hiring 25 staff by the tax department.
    - Publication of the 2019 and 2020 financial statements and audit reports of EBS.
    - Introduction of the quarterly expenditure ceilings for line ministries.
    - Launching of the FX trading platform.
  - One SB not met by end-February 2025:
    - End-February 2025 SB to amend the anti-corruption legal framework for income and asset declaration for high-ranking public officials was not met; a revised amendment (assessed by staff to be in line with SB specifications) was approved by the State Council and submitted to the National Assembly (unlikely to move forward until after the elections).
  - Two other SBs not met but expected in March:
    - Publication of the CBvS IFRS audited FY22 financial statements.
    - Establishing a treasury single account (TSA) for a subset of line ministries.
- Drought-related effects:
  - Ongoing drought lowered hydroelectric production, reducing transfers to the budget from the electricity company (EBS) as it relies more on higher-cost thermal generation.
  - Drought led to failure of rice crops, requiring emergency assistance to farmers; river access to interior districts disrupted, increasing government spending to deliver supplies by helicopter.

### Policy discussions — A. Improving fiscal management
- 2025 budget and fiscal stance:
  - The authorities resubmitted to the National Assembly a 2025 budget consistent with achieving a 2.7 percent of GDP primary surplus.
  - The budget is underpinned by credible corrective measures of at least 2 percent of GDP.
- Corrective measures (text table summary in source):
  - Revenues:
    - Fuel excise tax has been increased and will be further increased in June (corrective measure, yielding 1.6 percent of GDP).
    - Administrative procedures and necessary registries will be operationalized to underpin non-tax revenue collections (notably for air navigation fees, land leases and land conversion fees).
    - Various government levies are being reviewed to ensure consistency with the generalized rise in prices in recent years.
  - Capital expenditure:
    - Budget allocation for infrastructure spending will be reduced (corrective measure, yielding 0.4 percent of GDP).
    - Projects will be subject to a more rigorous project appraisal process focused on demonstrating the project’s economic and societal desirability.
  - Electricity:
    - The revised budget incorporates higher spending on electricity subsidies given that the water level in the Afobaka dam remains at a critical level (and EBS will have to rent emergency generators to meet demand).
    - The budget assumes EBS is able to meet its (lower) obligations to the budget in a timely manner; the authorities have put in place a commission to evaluate the financial situation of EBS and suggest reforms.

### Policy discussions — Other major themes noted in the executive summary
- Bringing down inflation:
  - Headline inflation fell to 9.8 percent y-o-y in January 2025 from over 60 percent in December 2021; monetary policy has been restrictive and exchange rate allowed to adjust to market conditions (CBvS refrained from FX intervention).
- Improving financial stability:
  - Improved oversight and enhanced regulatory framework have put most banks on a path toward a stronger capital position; important financial system vulnerabilities remain.
- Governance:
  - Enhanced governance measures include AML/CFT strengthening, Anti-Corruption Commission establishment, and pending legislation for income and asset disclosure.
- Improving economic statistics:
  - The program includes structural benchmarks and TA-supported measures to improve fiscal reporting, publication of CBvS IFRS statements, and establishment of a TSA for line ministries.

### Program issues and risks
- Program issues summarized:
  - Program performance mixed: met almost all PCs but missed the central government primary balance floor.
  - Fiscal slippage driven by lower non-tax revenues and electricity payment delays linked to drought; supply-side and institutional reforms are progressing but with delays.
- Near-term downside risks:
  - Policy implementation challenges, social and political spending pressures ahead of elections, and contingent liabilities from large-scale oil investments (including Staatsolie financing to exercise its stake in block 58).
- Medium-term upside risks:
  - Additional oil discoveries, bauxite exploration prospects, and lower funding costs as oil projects approach completion could improve macro outcomes.

*Source: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY — 1surea2025003-print-pdf.*

### 1. Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of central government (floor)

### 1. Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of central government (floor)

### Program performance on quantitative targets
- 1. Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of central government (floor): Met; Not Met; Met; Not Met; Met; Not Met; Not Met; Not Met; Not Met
- 2. New natural resource revenue-collateralized debt contracted by or on behalf of the central government and/or SOEs (continuous ceiling): Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met
- 3. New central government guaranteed debt (continuous ceiling): Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met
- 4. Non-accumulation of central government external debt arrears (continuous ceiling): Met; Not Met; Not Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met
- Monetary targets:
  - 5. Gross credit to the central government by the central bank (continuous ceiling): Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met
  - 6. Net international reserves of the central bank (floor): Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Not Met; Met; Met; Met
  - 7. Net domestic assets of the central bank (ceiling): Not Met; Not Met; Met; Met; Met; Not Met; Met; Met; Met
  - 8. Direct purchases/sales of FX by the central bank and/or central government from/to SOEs and private sector (continuous ceiling): Met; Met; Met *; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met; Met
  - 9. Central government mineral revenue in local currency (ceiling): Met; Met; Met; Met
- Indicative Targets (IT):
  - 1. Social spending of central government (floor): Not Met; Met; Not Met; Not Met; Not Met; Met**; Met; Met; Met
  - 2. VAT refund arrears: Met; Met; Not Met; Not Met
  - 3. Domestic debt arrears (continuous ceiling): Met; Met

Notes on assessment:
- "* Assessed from the 2nd review. The ceiling was breached by direct sales of US$ 13 million in February 2023 while the program was off-track."
- "** Revised data shows that the IT on social spending, which was reported as not met at the 6th review, was actually met."

### Fiscal measures, reforms, and implementation progress
- Tax administration and VAT:
  - The Tax Department recruited 25 new staff. Legislation to convert the Tax Department into a Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authority was passed in December 2024.
  - Over 4,700 companies have registered for the VAT; authorities are clearing outstanding VAT refunds and imposing penalties and interest for late filing and payment of VAT.
  - Fiscal identification numbers made mandatory for all importers and exporters to facilitate cross-matching.
- Non-tax revenues and pricing:
  - Fuel prices determined by an automatic pricing mechanism based on international prices; specific excise taxes on fuel reimposed and increased.
  - Leasing fees and sale of government land increased; air navigation service rates increased.
- Wage bill and civil service:
  - Authorities agreed with unions to raise civil servant wages by 15 percent on average, backdated to July 2024; another 5 percent increase took place in January 2025.
  - A study commissioned to regularize salary scales and benchmark to private-sector comparators for higher-skilled workers; stricter overtime approval process implemented.
  - Unregistered government employees (4 percent of the total public workforce) to be removed from public payrolls in March, and hiring freeze extended for an additional year to keep the wage bill flat in percent of GDP terms. Legal uncertainty on dismissals resolved in January.
- Electricity and energy subsidies:
  - Average electricity tariffs for households increased by more than 80 percent since the start of 2023, reducing the subsidy cost by 1.3 percentage points of GDP.
  - Tariff adjustments now automatically linked to price of oil, exchange rate, and the thermal/hydroelectric mix; electricity expected to reach cost recovery for households by end-2026.
  - Electricity company published financial statements and audit reports for 2019 and 2020 (end-December 2024 SB, not met, implemented with delay in February 2025) and will submit 2021 financial statements to the external auditor (end-February 2025 SB, met).
- LPG and cash transfers:
  - LPG prices increased by 200 percent in September 2023 and by a further 27 percent in June 2024; further quarterly adjustments planned to fully eliminate the subsidy by September 2026.
  - Social assistance spending increased from 1.5 to 3.7 percent of GDP since end-2021, driven by the Purchasing Power Enhancement cash transfer program.
  - Program floor on social assistance spending met throughout 2024 with a margin of SRD 330 million (0.2 percent of GDP); monthly online reporting on average cash transfers by district is being published.
- Capital spending and climate:
  - Climate resilience considerations integrated into appraisal and selection of capital projects.
  - Preliminary evaluation under way with Guyana for a new bridge; project not in Suriname’s 2025 budget and expected to be met within the program’s medium-term budget envelope.

### Arrears, debt management, and fiscal institutions
- Arrears and clearance plans:
  - All domestic debt arrears have been cleared; continuous IT on non-accumulation of domestic debt arrears was met.
  - Significant arrears to suppliers and VAT refunds total almost 4.3 percent of GDP at end-2024.
  - Authorities developed a schedule to clear these arrears by 2027; in 2025 they plan to clear suppliers and VAT refund arrears of SRD 3.3 billion (2.3 percent of GDP).
  - Measures to prevent new arrears: ministries and spending agencies must obtain prior authorization before signing contracts (above a threshold); government will not be held legally responsible for contracts without such authorization.
  - Need to establish an electronic system to automate debt securities payments to prevent future domestic debt arrears.
- Strengthening institutions:
  - Build capacity at the debt management office for better recording, reporting, and timely payment of public debt obligations.
  - Strengthen quality and consistency of quarterly budget execution reports.
  - Establish a pilot treasury single account (TSA) for a subset of line ministries (four ministries will participate); progress made with central bank accounts but further work needed on IFMIS interface and commercial bank accounts.
  - Fully implement the new procurement law.
  - Strengthen digitalization to increase transparency and efficiency and publish a report quantifying principal fiscal risks faced by the largest state-owned enterprises.

### Fiscal framework, SSFS, and transparency
- Fiscal rules and SSFS:
  - December 2024 legislation introduced two fiscal rules: (i) a target for public debt (net of assets in the SSFS) to be reached by the end of the five-year period, and (ii) annual primary expenditure limits consistent with this debt target.
  - Totality of mineral government revenue to be received by the SSFS; every five years the government will set numerical values of the fiscal rules and submit them in a Financial Five-Year Plan (FFYP) to the National Assembly.
  - Annual budgets must align with the FFYP, which defines limits on transfers from the SSFS to the central government.
  - Operationalizing the net debt target requires an integrated asset and liability management system accounting for asset returns against borrowing costs.
  - Legislation includes a well-defined escape clause for national disasters allowing the Minister of Finance to request temporary suspension of fiscal rules and additional withdrawals from the SSFS.
  - SSFS to manage resources independently, investing in foreign currency reserve assets; a Board of Directors and Investment Advisory Committee appointed; CBvS designated as operational manager for three years; clear reporting requirements and annual independent audit to the National Assembly.
- Extractive sector transparency:
  - Suriname participating in EITI since May 2017 but received a low score on implementing the 2019 EITI Standard (transparency) during the 2024 Validation; temporarily suspended from EITI.
  - Failures include not publishing company payments and government revenues from extractive industries per EITI timeliness requirements, and not disclosing some oil and gas sector contracts.
  - Revisions to the Mining Law to strengthen beneficial ownership disclosure not yet legislated.
  - An auditing firm contracted to produce the 2021/22 EITI report; report expected to be finalized in May.

### Medium-term fiscal projections and debt sustainability
- By 2029:
  - Increase in oil revenue should support a primary surplus of 4.6 percent which will bring the debt to GDP ratio to 9 percent of GDP by 2035.
- Gross financing needs (GFNs):
  - GFNs expected to decline from the 2024 peak of 7.7 percent of GDP to 1 percent of GDP by 2028.
  - Note: 7.7 percent of GDP peak was temporarily boosted by principal payments on multilateral debt whose grace periods ended and clearance of arrears from recently completed debt restructuring agreements.
- Debt assessment:
  - Debt is judged to be sustainable (Annex I).
  - Staff note: royalty from new oil revenue and payments to VRI holders impacts the primary balance post 2028; terms of the VRI stipulate evolution of the notional amount under an accrual rate of 9 percent; payments to VRI holders are capped at 30 percent of royalties from block 58 after the first USD 100 million royalties are allocated exclusively to the government.

### Digitalization and connectivity
- National Digital Strategy 2023-2030:
  - Aims to strengthen digital infrastructure, digitalize government departments, and provide affordable internet access to households.
  - Estimated cost: about 0.3 percent of GDP per year in additional investment to achieve full internet access across settlements by 2030, combined with improvements in quality, affordability, and digital skills.
- Progress and initiatives:
  - Electronic IDs and digital services for tourists implemented; Beneficiary Integrated System (IDB and MOSAH) to integrate government databases for social benefits.
  - Digitalization seen as a tool to increase spending efficiency, improve access to information, ease of doing business, and reduce vulnerabilities to corruption.
  - Rural internet access: 19 out of 392 villages have internet access.
  - Mobile cellular data package price: Suriname 4.86; Belize 2.44; Guyana 0.92; Latin America and the Caribbean 1.55; Emerging Market Economies 0.76 (percent of monthly GNI per capita).

*Source: 1. Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of central government (floor), 1surea2025003-print-pdf.*

### 18.      Restrictive targets for reserve

### 18.      Restrictive targets for reserve

### Monetary stance, inflation, and liquidity
- Restrictive targets for reserve money growth have helped bring down inflation.
- The stock of reserve money has fallen back to its historical average as a share of GDP as the central bank continues to maintain a restrictive monetary stance.
- As a result, inflation has declined, with the most significant contributions coming from food, transport and communications.
- There is scope, as inflation falls further, to move to a more neutral monetary stance.
- Near-term liquidity risk: as the government moves its deposits out of the banking system and into the Treasury Single Account, the central bank needs to be attentive to potential shifts in local currency liquidity. This may require, inter alia, a greater reliance on the CBvS’s standby lending facility as banks adjust to the new deposit structure.
- Adhering to SRD RM targets helped bring down inflation and the Central Bank Term Deposit (CBTD) facility rates. Yet the interest rate channel remains weak as deposit and lending rates remain inelastic to the CB/TD rates.

### Transition to a new monetary policy regime (next 3 years)
- Rationale:
  - With oil discoveries, large swings in activity and relative prices are expected, which will make it difficult to calibrate a framework centered on monetary aggregate targets.
- Preparatory priorities for the central bank:
  - Transition from quantities to interest rates as the primary operational target.
  - Establish a well-functioning interbank market for short-term liquidity so that a market-determined, short-term interest rate can be used to calibrate and communicate monetary restraint.
  - First establish an intermediate target (e.g., inflation projection) that would link short-term interest within a policy rule.
  - Improve the central bank’s institutional structure and develop better technical capacity to design and operate the new framework.

### Monetary policy implementation and market development
- The central bank should discontinue selling its liabilities to retail investors.
  - Limit counterparties in open market operations to institutions subject to reserve requirements and supervision.
  - As liabilities held by retail investors come due, they should not be renewed.
- Further actions to improve implementation and transmission:
  - Increase efforts to develop the domestic money market.
  - Enhance the collateral framework for using central bank liquidity facilities.
  - Improve banks' liquidity management practices.
  - Modernize financial market infrastructure.
  - Continue initiatives to develop and digitize the domestic debt market to support financial sector deepening.

### FX market, reserves management, and governance improvements
- The new system for electronic trading of FX has been launched.
  - Regulations for the FX auction and trading platforms updated to be consistent with the Fund’s MCP policy.
  - Both platforms will improve the efficiency, liquidity and transparency of the FX market.
  - CBvS is working to strengthen its FX reserves management and operations.
- Governance and operational autonomy progress:
  - CBvS’ Council and Executive Board fully constituted in line with the 2021 safeguards report recommendations and the 2023 Central Bank Act.
  - FY21 financial statements published in August 2024; FY22 financial statements will be published in March 2025 (an end-January 2025 SB, not met).
  - MOFP included resources for central bank recapitalization plan in the 2025 budget.
  - Registered SRD 8.4 billion in bonds for recapitalization.
  - Injected SRD 1 billion into the CBvS in February – thereby fully implementing the recapitalization plan agreed in August 2024.

### Credit, banking vulnerabilities, and supervisory recommendations
- Recent credit developments and outlook:
  - Private sector credit growth rose significantly in the last quarter of 2024.
  - Credit growth appears driven by the ongoing economic recovery and the FID announcement.
  - Credit to the private sector is expected to continue to grow in 2025.
- Banking system vulnerabilities:
  - Liquid assets comprise 52 percent of total assets, with significant variation across banks (much of the liquidity concentrated in one systemic bank).
  - Nonperforming loans (NPLs) slightly declined relative to end-September, at 6.8 percent as of end-November, largely due to partial repayment of legacy loans in a systemic bank.
  - Reported level of capital adequacy for the banking system is 22 percent as of November 2024.
  - One small private bank with a capital shortfall is being worked on for orderly resolution or liquidation; that bank corresponds to 2.4 percent of banking system assets.
  - Banks’ profitability remains dependent on their holdings of central bank instruments.
- Supervisory and policy actions recommended:
  - Enforce timely completion of banks’ recapitalization plans.
  - Ensure state-owned banks are run on a fully commercial basis with a level-playing field with private banks.
  - Any future government support should be provided only to viable banks, aim to minimize fiscal costs and moral hazard, invigorate public confidence, and provide a clear exit strategy for the government.
  - Improve banks’ risk management and supervision to ensure prudent credit underwriting, collateralization, follow-up and classification practices.
  - Improve liquidity and solvency stress testing; gather information on interconnectedness; require banks to strengthen internal risk management; monitor maturity mismatches.
  - Operationalize the bank resolution framework quickly and develop internal contingency plans by MOFP and CBvS under the Financial Stability Committee for a range of stress scenarios.
  - Establish a comprehensive credit registry to track borrower leverage and close data gaps.
  - Develop and implement a macroprudential toolkit prioritizing borrower-based measures.
  - Improve supervision of nonbank financial institutions (NBFIs): assess lending practices, impose stricter reporting requirements and asset classification regulations, introduce fit-and-proper criteria for ownership, and gradually expand macroprudential framework to include NBFIs.

### Virtual assets, AML/CFT, and governance
- Virtual assets:
  - A Virtual Asset Service Providers Supervision Act has been drafted to provide a legal basis for supervision of virtual assets service providers, incorporating IMF recommendations.
  - Draft Act prioritizes mitigating AML/CFT risks, ensuring safe provision of crypto services, protecting client assets, and setting disclosure, prudential and risk management requirements.
- AML/CFT regime:
  - Amendments to the AML/CFT Act were approved by parliament in July 2024.
  - To fully comply with CFATF requirements, Suriname needs to:
    - (i) enhance AML/CFT supervision for all financial institutions;
    - (ii) develop and implement a risk-based supervisory framework for Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs);
    - (iii) provide adequate human, financial, and technological resources to the Financial Intelligence Unit and Gaming Control Board;
    - (iv) increase ML/TF related investigations, prosecutions and confiscations;
    - (v) amend the International Sanctions Framework to update the legal framework for implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions on Terrorism and Proliferation Financing.
  - The second national risk assessment (NRA) has been completed.
  - At the CFATF December 2024 plenary, Suriname received upgrades for eight FATF recommendations and is now compliant or largely compliant with 21 of the 40 recommendations.
- Governance priorities with incoming oil revenues:
  - Strengthen institutions to mitigate corruption risks and increase transparency and accountability.
  - With Fund CD, progress toward amending the anti-corruption framework to strengthen income and asset declarations of politically exposed persons, including routine verification, publication of declarations, and establishment of proportionate and dissuasive sanctions for non-compliance.
  - Draft amendment submitted to the National Assembly in February (expected to be considered only after the election in May).
  - New procurement law enacted in November 2024 requires publication of all tenders and contract awards, procurement contracts, names of awarded entities and their beneficial owners, public officials awarding contracts, and ex-post validation of delivery.

### Data, statistics, and program issues
- Statistics improvements:
  - Progress on monetary, fiscal, financial, national accounts, prices and balance of payments statistics (Annex VI, CR 25/11).
  - Authorities increased the budget of the statistics office, but further efforts are needed to improve GDP timeliness and provide more disaggregated consumer price data.
  - Ongoing IMF CD to improve government finance data, including monthly tracking of the CG financial balance sheet (starting with December 2023 data in September 2024) and tracking accounts payable and suppliers' arrears.
- Program and fiscal targets:
  - Authorities resubmitted the 2025 budget targeting 2.7 percent of GDP primary balance as a basis for waiver of non-observance of the end-December PC, underpinned by credible corrective actions that show 2 percent of GDP in additional fiscal effort.
- Access and capacity to repay:
  - Fund credit outstanding including projected purchases under the proposed arrangement will peak in 2025 at 13 percent of GDP and equivalent to around 21.4 percent of exports of goods and services and 32.4 percent of usable international reserves, and will remain elevated through 2028.
  - Total debt service to the Fund will peak at 1.3 percent of exports of goods and services and 6.8 percent of usable international reserves in 2028.
  - Of the SDR 46.8 million scheduled for the ninth review, SDR 33.6 million (72 percent) would be made available for budget support.
- Lending into arrears:
  - Staff assess that good faith efforts are being made to reach a collaborative agreement with the remaining private external creditor; creditor is not deemed a holdout risk and arrears do not undermine medium-term external viability or capacity to repay the Fund.
- Program financing and future engagement:
  - Program continues to be fully financed with firm commitments of financing for the next 12 months and good prospects beyond program period that expires in March.
  - Current government remains interested in continuing engagement with the Fund after the EFF-supported program ends; staff will discuss modalities with the new government after May 2025 elections.

*Source: IMF staff and CBvS materials as presented in the content unit.*

### 37.      Suriname’s economy is now stronger and more resilient. At the start of the program,

### Suriname’s economy is now stronger and more resilient.

### Macroeconomic outcomes and legacy conditions
- At the start of the program, Suriname was in a deep crisis: real economy activity had contracted 18 percent in the previous two years, inflation reached 60 percent, monetary financing of deficit was rampant, international reserves were precariously low, there was a parallel exchange rate, the country had defaulted on its public debt, and 4 out of 9 commercial banks were undercapitalized.
- Current outcomes highlighted:
  - Suriname shows solid economic growth.
  - Inflation is in the single digits.
  - Reserves are at 7 months of imports.
  - Public debt is on a firm downward path following a successful restructuring of official and privately-held external debt.
  - Negotiations are underway to complete the restructuring with the one remaining commercial creditor.
  - The restructuring of domestic debts—including those to the central bank—has been finalized and domestic debt arrears cleared.
  - Spreads are at historic low.
  - Only one commercial bank is currently undercapitalized.

### Program financing (key figures)
- Financing gap (in millions of US dollars): 237 (2021); 421 (2022); 307 (2023); 399 (2024); 88 (2025); Total 1452.
- Official financing (in millions of US dollars): 34 (2021); 253 (2022); 308 (2023); 399 (2024); 88 (2025); Total 1081.
- Of official financing, O/w: IMF (in millions of US dollars): 34 (2021); 53 (2022); 158 (2023); 249 (2024); 63 (2025); Total 556.
- Purchases (in millions of US dollars): 55 (2021); 53 (2022); 158 (2023); 249 (2024); 63 (2025); Total 577.
- O/w: for budget support (in millions of US dollars): 55 (2021); 53 (2022); 103 (2023); 122 (2024); 45 (2025); Total 377.
- Repurchases (in millions of US dollars): 21 (2021); 0 (2022); 0 (2023); 0 (2024); 0 (2025); Total 21.
- O/w: IFIs (in millions of US dollars): 0 (2021); 200 (2022); 150 (2023); 150 (2024); 25 (2025); Total 525.
- Financing from external arrears accumulation (net) (in millions of US dollars): 203 (2021); 168 (2022); -1 (2023); 0 (2024); 0 (2025); Total 371.
- Note: The authorities’ engagement with IDB on budget support for 2025 are ongoing. It will depend on IDB’s own assessment of macroeconomic stability and likelihood of a successor arrangement with the IMF. The CDB is expected to provide USD 25 million in budget support in 2025. Other IFIs commit to disbursing agreed project loans conditional on the IMF program review and their own conditionality.
- Source: IMF staff calculations. 1/ Excludes financing from external debt restructuring.

### Structural reforms implemented
- Fiscal side reforms:
  - Introduced a broad-based VAT.
  - Revamped the sovereign wealth fund.
  - Introduced fiscal rules.
  - Modernized the management of public finances.
  - Began cleaning up public payrolls from unregistered and chronically absent employees.
  - Wasteful spending on subsidies (fuel, electricity, gas, water) have been substantially reduced with resources redirected towards social assistance programs (where spending has doubled as a percent of GDP).
  - Numerous reforms to improve fiscal transparency and accountability.
- Central bank reforms:
  - Passed legislation to strengthen the governance and independence of the central bank and subsequently recapitalized the central bank.
- Financial sector oversight reforms:
  - Enhanced CBvS authority and capacity to regulate and supervise the financial system and implement prompt corrective actions and resolution powers.
  - Asset quality reviews of the commercial banks were conducted.

### Policy priorities — Fiscal policy and public finances
- Fiscal policy needs to remain focused on cementing debt sustainability:
  - Central government still runs an overall budget deficit.
  - Public debt is still too high.
  - Risk: temptation to spend oil inflows before they materialize.
  - Continued commitment to fiscal consolidation in the coming years is required to enshrine debt and fiscal sustainability.
- Specific fiscal policy recommendations:
  - Persevere with phasing out the electricity subsidies.
  - Improve tax administration to create space for social programs and investment in physical and human capital.
  - Enhance administration of social assistance programs to ensure resources are not wasted, reach the most vulnerable in every region, and are effective in closing the poverty gap.
  - Conduct a comprehensive review of the public wage bill: the increasingly flattened civil service salary scale impedes government’s ability to attract and retain skilled workers and likely incentivizes corruption.

### Public financial management and cash/arrears management
- Continued efforts needed to improve public finance management:
  - Monitor and gradually reduce the stock of supplier arrears by building capacity in cash forecasting and management.
  - Gradually implement a Single Treasury Account and expand it to include more ministries to increase transparency and accountability.
  - Establish a clearer budgeting process and enforce quarterly budget ceilings for line ministries to avoid expenditure overruns and arrears accumulation.

### Financial system vulnerabilities and recommendations
- Risks to address, especially with oil development and rapid credit growth:
  - Conclude discussions to resolve or liquidate the one private bank with capital shortages.
  - Tie the recapitalization of the state-owned bank to wide-ranging governance reforms at the bank.
  - CBvS should enhance capacity for systemic risk monitoring, including enhancement of stress testing tools and establishment of a macroprudential framework.
  - Increase monitoring of NBFIs, particularly regarding their interconnectedness with the banking system.
  - Operationalize the bank resolution framework through issuance of relevant regulations and guidelines.
  - Ongoing efforts to strengthen AML/CFT will support financial system integrity and prevent the potential loss of corresponding banking relationships.

### Strengthening statistics, transparency, and governance
- Statistical capacity needs:
  - Build capacity to produce quarterly GDP data.
  - Reduce the lag with annual GDP provision.
  - Provide more disaggregated CPI series.
  - Regular reporting on socioeconomic indicators to support policy formulation, transition to a new monetary policy framework, and assessment of distributional effects of fiscal policies.
- Governance and transparency priorities before oil inflows:
  - Enact amendment of the anti-corruption law to strengthen income and asset declaration regime for politically exposed persons and promptly implement it.
  - Increase transparency of public officials’ asset holdings to lessen vulnerability to corruption associated with massive oil wealth.
  - Get the suspension lifted from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

### Economic diversification and competitiveness
- To avoid a resource curse and raise competitiveness of the non-oil sector:
  - Increase female labor force participation.
  - Promote financial inclusion and access to credit for small and medium-size enterprises.
  - Invest in education to address skills mismatch and prepare youth for private sector opportunities.
  - Digitalize public sector service delivery to increase government efficiency.
  - Improve access to the internet in the interior to support private sector-led growth.

*Source: Suriname — IMF country report excerpt.*

### 46.      Staff supports the authorities request for the completion of the ninth and final review

### 1surea2025003-print-pdf - 46.      Staff supports the authorities request for the completion of the ninth and final review

### Program status and IMF staff recommendations
- Staff supports the authorities’ request for the completion of the ninth and final review under the EFF arrangement and the completion of financing assurances review.
- Staff supports the authorities’ request for a waiver for the non-observance of the end-December 2024 performance criterion on the primary fiscal balance of the central government.
- It is proposed that Suriname’s Article IV consultation cycle be shortened back to 12 months.
- The next Article IV consultation is expected to be held in December 2025.

### Inflation developments (Figure 1)
- Staff presents CPI and core inflation measures (figures shown): annualized month-on-month inflation series and CPI, All items (y/y inflation).
- CPI (period average) for 2024: 16.8 (percent).
- CPI (end of period) for 2024: 12.2 (percent).
- Staff core inflation and alternative core inflation series are reported (excluding food and utilities; excluding food, utilities and transport).

### Fiscal developments and public finances (Figures and Tables)
- Central government: staff provides detailed fiscal tables and projections (Tables 1, 3a–3c).
- Real GDP growth (percent change): 2024 = 3.0.
- Nominal GDP (SRD billions): 2024 = 147.6.
- Consumer prices (period average): 2024 = 16.8; (end of period) 2024 = 12.2.
- Central government debt (percent of GDP, Table 1): 2024 = 95.4.
- Public (central government) debt (SRD millions, Table 3a memorandum): 2024 = 140,860.
- Selected fiscal aggregates (2024, percent of GDP, Table 3b):
  - Revenues = 28.5 percent of GDP.
  - Total expenditure = 29.8 percent of GDP.
  - Primary expenditures = 26.0 percent of GDP.
  - Interest = 3.1 percent of GDP.
  - Overall balance (net lending/borrowing) = -1.2 percent of GDP.
  - Primary balance = 2.5 percent of GDP.
  - Non-resource balance = -13.2 percent of GDP.
- Central government operations (millions of SRD, Table 3a, 2024):
  - Revenues = 42,093.
  - Taxes = 27,804.
  - Non-tax revenues = 13,846.
  - Expenditures = 43,929.
  - Primary expenditures = 38,393.
  - Interest = 5,536.
  - Overall balance (net lending/borrowing) = -1,836.

### External sector and reserves (Figures and Tables)
- Current account (percent of GDP, Table 4b): 2024 = -3.6 percent of GDP.
- Current account (USD millions, Table 4a): 2024 = -160 (millions of USD).
- Exports of goods and services (USD millions, Table 4a): 2024 = 2,728.
- Imports of goods and services (USD millions, Table 4a): 2024 = 2,703.
- Trade balance, goods (USD millions): 2024 = 449.
- Primary income, net (USD millions): 2024 = -337.
- Gross international reserves (USD millions, Table 4a): 2024 = 1,555.
- Usable gross international reserves (USD millions, Table 4a): 2024 = 1,321.
- Reserve adequacy (risk-weighted measure, percent; Table 4a): 2024 = 160 (percent of reserve adequacy).
- Overall balance (USD millions, Table 4a): 2024 = -173.
- Change in reserves (- = increase, USD millions, Table 4a): 2024 = -134.

### Monetary and financial sector (Figure 4 and Table highlights)
- Monetary aggregates and central bank operations are reported, including currency in circulation, reserve requirements, outstanding OMOs, and auction results (series and levels shown in Figure 4).
- Reserve money (percent change and percent of GDP, Table 1): level and dynamics presented in staff tables.
- Broad money (percent change, Table 1): 2024 = 10.3 (percent change).

### Key projections and medium-term outlook (selected figures)
- Real GDP growth (percent change): 2025 = 3.2; 2026 = 3.2; 2027 = 3.7.
- Consumer prices (period average, percent): 2025 = 10.7; 2026 = 8.7; 2027 = 7.0.
- Central government debt (percent of GDP, Table 1 projections): 2025 = 87.2; 2026 = 89.6; 2027 = 86.6.
- Gross international reserves (USD millions, projections, Table 4a): 2025 = 1,632; 2026 = 1,565; 2027 = 1,634.
- Current account (percent of GDP, projections): 2025 = -2.8; 2026 = -38.0 (note: large swings reflect mineral-related adjustments in projections shown in tables).

*Source: 1surea2025003-print-pdf (Suriname IMF PDF).*

### 1. Gross external financing requirements 82239236204671927186630393457252-3024-3869

### 1. Gross external financing requirements

### A. Components of gross external financing requirements (levels)
- 1. Gross external financing requirements: 82239236204671927186630393457252-3024-3869
- A. Current account deficit: -176-76-1481601261677152928293371177-3127-3948
- B. Public sector debt amortization: 259308166207198135135133236242332317
  - (i) Central government: 159202661079811011083211241330314
  - (ii) CBvS: 000000000123
  - (iii) SOEs: 10010710010010025255025000
- C. Other outflows: -17525314311520276-150-167-228-238

### B. Components of gross external financing requirements (percent of GDP)
- 1. Gross external financing requirements: 2.76.60.713.910.543.641.464.969.62.9-25.6-30.7
- A. Current account deficit: -5.7-2.1-4.33.62.838.033.960.467.92.0-26.5-31.3
- B. Public sector debt amortization: 8.48.54.84.64.53.03.02.84.82.82.82.5
  - (i) Central government: 5.25.61.92.42.22.52.41.84.32.82.82.5
  - (ii) CBvS: 0.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
  - (iii) SOEs: 3.22.92.92.22.20.60.61.10.50.00.00.0
- C. Other outflows: 0.00.20.15.73.22.64.51.6-3.0-1.9-1.9-1.9

---

### 2. Sources of financing

### A. Sources (levels)
- 2. Sources of financing: 197-77-102661901812174330283451676-1319-2568
- A. Asset sales (net) (Other investment account): 433662000000000
- B. Foreign direct investment (net): -1243-632502671395133523372691435-1178-2699
- C. Portfolio flows (net): 47-19-350-670000000
  - (i) Central government: 000000000123
  - (ii) SOEs: 000000000000
  - (iii) Other: 47-19-350-670000-1-2-3
- D. Public sector debt financing: 5579114179149429419690760240-144129
  - (i) Central government: 55791141118299909487131151129
  - (ii) SOEs: 0006767329329596673109-2940
- E. Other inflows (net): 176-176-88-163-160-11-1100123

### B. Sources (percent of GDP)
- 2. Sources of financing: 6.4-2.1-0.36.04.341.038.764.669.57.7-11.2-20.4
- A. Asset sales (net) (Other investment account): 1.41.01.80.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
- B. Foreign direct investment (net): -4.00.1-1.85.66.031.629.649.954.25.0-10.0-21.4
- C. Portfolio flows (net): 1.5-0.5-1.00.0-1.50.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
  - (i) Central government: 0.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
  - (ii) SOEs: 0.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
  - (iii) Other: 1.5-0.5-1.00.0-1.50.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
- D. Public sector debt financing: 1.82.23.34.03.39.79.314.715.32.7-1.21.0
  - (i) Central government: 1.82.23.32.51.82.32.02.01.81.51.31.0
  - (ii) SOEs: 0.00.00.01.51.57.57.312.713.61.2-2.50.0
- E. Other inflows (net): 5.7-4.8-2.6-3.7-3.6-0.3-0.30.00.00.00.00.0

### C. Balance (excluding expected accumulation of gross reserves) and related items
- Balance (2-1) excluding expected accumulation of gross reserves; Gap (-) Surplus (+): 3.7-8.7-1.0-8.0-6.2-2.6-2.7-0.2-0.14.814.410.3
- 3. Expected change in gross reserves of the CBvS; accumulation (-): -21.7-11.1-8.9-4.7-6.4-0.20.00.00.6-4.2-13.6-9.6
- 4. Errors and omissions: 10.38.2-2.30.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0

---

### 3. Financing needs and allocation

### A. Financing needs (levels and percent of GDP)
- 5. Financing needs -(2-1+3+4): 23742341856356312412412-22-55-92-98
- 5. Financing needs (percent of GDP): 7.711.612.112.712.62.82.80.2-0.4-0.6-0.8-0.8

### B. Allocation by source (levels)
- Allocation by:
  - (i) Official financing: 34254308401401888812-22-55-92-98
    - a. IMF: 34541582512516363-13-22-55-92-98
      - Purchases: 5554158251251636300000
      - O/w: for budget support: 5653102122121454400000
      - Repurchases: 210000001322559298
    - b. IFIs: 02001501501502525250000
  - (ii) External arrears (net): 203168-1000000000
  - (iii) Financing from external debt restructuring 1/: 111631633636

### C. Allocation by source (percent of GDP)
- (i) Official financing: 1.17.08.99.09.02.02.00.2-0.4-0.6-0.8-0.8
  - a. IMF: 1.11.54.65.65.61.41.4-0.3-0.4-0.6-0.8-0.8
    - Purchases: 1.81.54.65.65.61.41.40.00.00.00.00.0
    - O/w: for budget support: 1.81.53.02.72.71.01.00.00.00.00.00.0
    - Repurchases: 0.70.00.00.00.00.00.00.30.40.60.80.8
  - b. IFIs: 0.05.54.43.43.40.60.60.50.00.00.00.0
- (ii) External arrears (net): 6.64.60.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
- (iii) Financing from external debt restructuring 1/: 3.23.73.70.80.80.00.00.00.00.0

---

### 4. Depositary Corporations Survey and Central Bank Accounts (selected levels)

### A. Monetary survey (In millions of SRD)
- Net foreign assets: 5,867 11,674 23,827 47,473 68,778 79,882 77,767 86,735 89,681
  - Net international reserves (Held by the CBvS): 4,345 7,905 20,727 36,876 45,624 49,072 49,998 51,700 52,027
  - Net other foreign assets: 1,522 3,769 3,100 10,596 23,154 30,810 27,769 35,034 37,654
- Net domestic assets: 13,430 20,119 22,358 19,544 11,326 8,463 9,770 8,283 4,036
- Net claims on the public sector: 4,787 11,310 10,682 4,684 -4,661 3,679 -6,323 2,954 -3,395
  - Of which on central government: 5,055 11,360 10,501 5,301 -3,973 4,911 -4,750 4,255 -1,736
    - From CBvS: 3,248 8,234 6,877 780 -5,497 4,451 -4,325 3,525 -446
    - From Commercial Banks: 1,807 3,126 3,624 4,521 1,524 460 -424 730 -1,290
- Credit to the private sector: 7,310 9,299 11,019 18,255 21,641 24,768 25,085 27,812 27,841
- Other items, net: 1,334 -490 657 -3,395 -5,655 -19,984 -8,992 -22,482 -20,410
- Broad money 1/: 19,269 31,793 46,185 67,016 80,103 88,345 87,538 95,018 93,717
  - Currency in circulation: 1,973 3,498 4,397 5,578 6,654 7,439 8,679 8,182 9,484
  - Local currency deposits: 6,842 8,473 10,623 13,321 16,676 18,663 19,603 20,528 21,422
  - Foreign currency deposits: 10,454 19,823 31,165 48,117 56,774 62,243 59,256 66,308 62,811

### B. Central Bank (CBvS) selected items (levels)
- Net foreign assets: 2,394 4,039 11,266 28,020 35,439 38,812 40,431 40,793 41,879
  - (In USD millions): 324 288 539 882 977 1,056 1,149 1,047 1,123
- Net international reserves: 4,345 7,905 20,727 36,876 45,624 49,072 49,998 51,700 52,027
  - (In USD millions): 587 564 992 1,161 1,257 1,336 1,421 1,327 1,395
  - Gross International Reserves: 4,790 8,199 20,730 37,934 48,852 57,146 57,447 60,960 60,955
    - (In USD millions): 648 585 992 1,194 1,346 1,555 1,632 1,565 1,634
  - Liabilities: -445 -294 -3 -1,058 -3,229 -8,074 -7,449 -9,259 -8,928
    - (In USD millions): -60 -21 0 -33 -89 -220 -212 -238 -239
- Net other foreign assets: -1,951 -3,866 -9,461 -8,856 -10,184 -10,260 -9,567 -10,908 -10,148
- SDR allocations: -901 -1,779 -6,189 -8,947 -10,305 -10,420 -9,713 -11,077 -10,311
- Net domestic assets: 7,198 8,766 7,689 -565 -6,669 -7,982 -8,705 -6,876 -7,763
- Net claims on public sector: 3,248 8,234 6,877 780 -5,497 4,451 -4,325 3,525 -446
- Net claims on commercial banks: 264 -2,496 -4,731 -7,380 -7,941 -7,469 -10,379 -4,304 -991
- Other items, net: 3,686 3,027 5,544 6,035 6,768 -4,964 5,999 -6,097 -6,325
- Reserve money: 9,593 12,817 18,967 27,470 28,816 30,830 31,736 33,916 34,116
  - Currency in circulation: 2,263 3,861 4,792 6,084 7,215 8,255 9,745 9,079 10,650
  - Bankers deposits: 7,211 8,869 14,054 21,229 21,331 22,261 21,721 24,507 23,178
  - Gold certificates: 28 67 97 143 194 240 234 254 253

### C. Memorandum items and growth rates (selected)
- Velocity (GDP/broad money; end of period): 1.6 1.2 1.3 1.3 1.6 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.7
- Broad money (12-month percent change): 4.7 65.0 45.3 45.1 19.5 10.3 9.3 7.6 7.1
- Broad money (Percent of GDP): 60.7 82.1 76.0 74.9 63.0 59.8 59.4 56.7 57.3
- Credit to the private sector (Percent of GDP): 23.0 24.0 18.1 20.4 17.0 16.8 17.0 16.6 17.0

---

### 5. Financial soundness indicators (selected)

### A. Capital adequacy (percent)
- Regulatory capital to risk-weighted assets: 9.6 11.4 11.8 14.5 16.8 18.4 18.7 18.9 20.3 21.6 21.8 22.9 22.0
- Regulatory Tier 1 capital to risk-weighted assets: 9.0 10.8 10.5 13.1 15.5 17.3 16.7 16.9 18.4 19.9 20.2 21.4 20.5
- Tier 1 capital to total assets (leverage ratio): 4.9 4.9 4.3 5.7 6.1 7.4 7.1 7.2 7.7 8.3 8.7 9.1 8.9

### B. Asset quality (percent)
- NPL to gross loans: 12.0 10.6 14.6 12.8 12.4 16.1 14.3 14.0 13.0 10.4 7.2 7.2 6.9
- NPL net of provisions to Tier 1 capital: 39.0 34.9 68.1 43.6 35.2 45.5 40.6 39.9 33.7 22.8 13.4 13.9 13.1
- Provisions to total NPLs: 61.6 60.5 46.0 ... 39.9 35.7 .. .. .. .. .. ... ...
- Large exposures to capital: 272.5 228.7 306.5 178.3 150.2 112.8 113.5 115.4 95.2 80.1 60.8 50.2 47.9
- Foreign currency loans to total loans: 62.8 59.2 49.1 55.5 61.5 61.3 61.5 61.0 60.3 58.6 56.2 55.1 57.2

### C. Earnings, liquidity, sensitivity (percent)
- Return on assets (ROA, annualized): 0.1 1.0 2.0 1.8 2.7 1.2 2.0 2.2 2.7 0.7 1.0 1.3 2.0
- Return on equity (ROE, annualized): 1.9 16.7 34.8 29.6 44.8 16.0 27.4 29.9 36.5 9.3 13.2 15.9 24.2
- Net interest income to gross income: 70.6 69.2 47.7 53.5 61.7 63.3 66.2 67.0 67.0 76.6 80.3 80.6 72.1
- Liquid assets to total assets: 40.2 46.8 51.5 58.8 54.3 52.3 53.7 53.2 53.6 54.2 53.3 53.0 52.0
- Liquid assets to short-term liabilities: 82.1 93.4 101.3 117.0 114.0 102.7 106.7 104.6 102.6 103.6 99.8 99.0 97.4
- Net open positions in foreign currency to capital: 22.2 11.5 20.8 39.4 23.2 21.0 16.8 21.7 20.6 17.7 22.6 12.2 18.7
- Foreign currency liabilities to total liabilities: 66.5 60.9 69.2 71.6 74.1 75.0 75.3 74.6 73.3 71.8 69.0 67.5 64.5

---

### 6. Program monitoring, financing framework and performance criteria (selected)

### A. Schedule of Reviews and Available Purchases (selected entries)
- 12/22/2021 Board Approval of the Extended Arrangement: 39.430.6
- 3/15/2022 First review and continuous and end-December 2021 performance criteria: 39.430.6
- 6/14/2023 Second review and continuous, end-December 2022 performance criteria 1/: 39.430.6
- 12/6/2024 Eight review and continuous and end-September 2024 performance criteria: 46.836.3
- 3/14/2025 Ninth and final review and continuous and end-December 2024 performance criteria: 46.836.3
- Total: 430.7334.1
- Memo: Quota: 128.9

### B. Program monitoring—Indicators of Fund Credit Under the EFF Supported Program (selected)
- Prospective Drawings (2022–2034): 39.4118.2186.946.80.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
- Percent of quota (2022–2034): 30.691.7145.036.30.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
- Repurchases (2022–2034): 0.00.00.00.09.816.440.667.971.871.861.955.431.2
- Total Interest / Charges (2022–2034): 2.08.517.619.920.820.118.916.914.311.68.96.74.8
- Total Debt Services (2022–2034): 2.08.517.619.930.636.559.584.886.083.470.962.035.9
- Outstanding Credit (eop) (2022–2034): 78.8197.0383.9430.7420.9404.4363.8295.9224.2152.490.435.13.9
- Exports of G&S (US$ million) (selected): 2,6002,5332,7272,7382,7572,8336,2968,9999,1879,4679,4949,0638,606
- Gross International Reserves (US$ million) (selected): 1,1951,3461,6321,6341,6351,6061,9753,5864,7905,7146,8687,6358,027
  - as percent of ARA: 135150169158144132145257383513649777872

### C. Quantitative Performance Criteria and Indicative Targets (selected)
- Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of central government (floor) (selected values and status):
  - Act./PC/Adj. PC/...: -2,321 -719 334 3,007 Met 110 159 135 Not Met 221 -110 14 Met 331 -3 161 Met
  - Other entries across periods show multiple Act./Met/Not met statuses with values including 442 166 -111 Not Met; 552 300 8 Not Met; 663 707 660 Not Met; 773 1,005 311 Not Met; 884 946 346 Not Met; 994 1,218 345 Not Met
- Net international reserves of the central bank (floor) (millions of U.S. dollar) (selected):
  - -154 348 310 319 Met 11 -2 5 Met 103 2 16 Met 114 30 19 Not Met
  - Other rows: 118 49 13 Not Met; 122 104 92 Not Met; 156 150 156 Met; 158 159 169 Met; 160 168 192 Met; 192 169 193 Met
- Net domestic assets of the central bank (ceiling) (selected):
  - 8,777 -343 161 203 Not Met -6 180 -6 Met -1,134 272 113 Met -1,137 39 -118 Met
  - Other rows show negative targets and multiple Met/Not Met outcomes including -1,040 -67 134 Not Met; -941 -691 -246 Not Met; -1,263 -1,188 -591 Not Met; -1,142 -1,161 -91 Not Met; -1,016 -1,124 -77 Not Met; -1,316 -986 -14 Not Met

### D. Memorandum items (selected)
- Reserve money (selected snapshot values): 12,817 18,294 18,967 18,629 18,950 19,061 19,180 19,597 18,881
- Gross international reserves (millions of U.S. dollar) (selected): 585 968 992 979 986 1,071 848 1,139 899
- Usable international reserves (millions of U.S. dollar) 5/: 129 501 512 513 505 604 518 673 566
- Program exchange rate: 14.018 (repeated entries)

*Sources: Fund staff estimates and projections; Central Bank of Suriname; IMF staff calculations and projections.*

*Italic: Source PDF filename: 1surea2025003-print-pdf - 1. Gross external financing requirements 82239236204671927186630393457252-3024-3869.*

### 1. Social spending of central government (floor) 2/

### 1. Social spending of central government (floor) 2/

### Indicative targets and outcomes for social spending (selected entries)
- end-Sep. 2022
  - Indicative Target (IT): 1,112
  - Adjusted IT (Adj. IT): 1,315
  - Actual (Act.): Met
- end-Oct. 2022
  - IT: 1,483
  - Adj. IT: 1,717
  - Act.: Met
- end-Dec. 2022
  - IT: 1,981
  - Adj. IT: 1,058
  - Act.: Not Met
- end-Mar. 2023
  - IT: 1,721
  - Adj. IT: 1,790
  - Act.: 1,773
  - Met/Not met: Not Met
- end-Jun. 2023
  - PC/IT/Adj. PC/Adj. IT entries
  - IT: 2,971
  - Adj. IT: 1,915
  - Act.: Not Met
- end-Sep. 2023
  - IT: 2,617
  - Adj. IT: 2,617
  - Act.: 2,931
  - Met
- end-Jan. 2024
  - IT: 1,308
  - Adj. IT: 1,308
  - Act.: 1,440
  - Met*
  - Note: "* Revised data indicate that the social spending target, which was reported as "Not Met" at the 6th review, was actually met."
- end-Mar. 2024
  - IT: 1,538
  - Adj. IT: 2,085
  - Act.: 162
  - Not Met
- end-May 2024
  - IT: 692
  - Adj. IT: 556
  - Act.: -50
  - Not Met
- end-Jun. 2024
  - IT: 2,617
  - Adj. IT: 2,617
  - Act.: 2,931
  - Met
- end-Dec. 2024 (selected ITs shown)
  - IT: 3,785
  - Adj. IT: 4,240
  - Act.: Met
  - IT: 5,122
  - Adj. IT: 5,453
  - Act.: Met

### Stock of VAT refunds outstanding (ceiling) — selected entries
- end-Jul. 2022 memorandum listing
  - Reserve money: 22,912; 21,413; 23,444; 22,654; 23,858; 23,723
  - Reserve money (local currency portion only): 10,260; 11,098; 10,413; 11,359; 10,566; 11,450
  - Reserve money (constant exchange rates): 16,765; 17,587; 16,918; 18,084; 17,071; 18,424
- end-Oct. 2022 memorandum listing
  - Reserve money: 24,277; 25,205; 24,660; 26,514; 25,047; 27,470
  - Reserve money (local currency portion only): 10,718; 11,507; 10,871; 11,632; 11,024; 12,263
  - Reserve money (constant exchange rates): 17,224; 18,583; 17,377; 18,710; 17,529; 19,414
- end-Jun. 2023 memorandum listing
  - Reserve money: 33,964; 27,590; 35,102; 29,378; 36,147; 27,225
  - Reserve money (local currency portion only): 14,249; 14,064; 14,642; 15,602; 14,998; 14,438
  - Reserve money (constant exchange rates): 21,461; 19,448; 21,896; 20,914; 22,294; 19,457
- end-Sep./end-Oct./end-Nov. 2023 memorandum listing (selected)
  - Reserve money: 29,440; 26,720; 30,049; 27,660; 30,670; 28,647
  - Reserve money (local currency portion only): 15,320; 14,208; 15,573; 15,111; 15,831; 15,621
  - Reserve money (constant exchange rates): 20,589; 19,167; 20,857; 20,000; 21,130; 20,708
- end-Jan./end-Feb./end-Mar. 2024 memorandum listing (selected)
  - Reserve money: 28,866; 29,074; 29,300; 29,226; 29,699; 28,810
  - Reserve money (local currency portion only): 15,978; 16,841; 16,298; 17,416; 16,582; 17,627
  - Reserve money (constant exchange rates): 20,761; 21,639; 21,085; 21,817; 21,373; 22,442
- end-April./end-May/end-Jun. 2024 memorandum listing (selected)
  - Reserve money: 29,526; 28,238; 28,004; 27,768; 30,127; 27,124
  - Reserve money (local currency portion only): 17,202; 17,389; 17,570; 17,281; 17,749; 17,134
  - Reserve money (constant exchange rates): 22,110; 22,160; 22,312; 22,023; 22,463; 21,956
- end-Dec. 2024 memorandum listing (selected)
  - Reserve money: 29,526; 28,238; 28,004; 27,768; 30,127; 27,124
  - Reserve money (local currency portion only): 17,202; 17,389; 17,570; 17,281; 17,749; 17,134
  - Reserve money (constant exchange rates): 22,110; 22,160; 22,312; 22,023; 22,463; 21,956

### Memorandum items — selected key statistics (preserve original units)
- Gross international reserves (millions of U.S. dollar) — selected values:
  - 1,097; 991; 1,099; 1,018; 1,187; 1,029
  - 1,190; 1,045; 1,192; 1,031; 1,260; 1,194
  - 1,153; 1,091; 1,155; 1,096; 1,156; 1,062
  - 1,132; 1,107; 1,128; 1,141; 1,112; 1,142
  - 1,188; 1,328; 1,169; 1,334; 1,225; 1,365
  - 1,365; 1,364; 1,396; 1,350; 1,382; 1,410
- Usable international reserves (millions of U.S. dollar) 5/ — selected values:
  - 771; 667; 773; 698; 862; 713
  - 864; 716; 866; 707; 934; 865
  - 835; 853; 837; 857; 838; 825
  - 893; 873; 889; 908; 873; 908
  - 955; 1,070; 936; 1,075; 991; 1,107
  - 1,131; 1,130; 1,162; 1,116; 1,148; 1,176
- Program exchange rate (selected entries)
  - 14.018 (repeated across all reported periods)

### Related quantitative performance criteria entries (contextual figures)
- Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of central government (floor) — selected Act./Met statuses:
  - IT/Adj. IT/Act.: 1,105 / 1,788 / 657 — Not Met
  - 1,215 / 2,111 / 1,174 — Not Met
  - 1,326 / 2,625 / 1,150 — Not Met
  - 1,147 / 1,571 / 2,013 — Met
  - 1,338 / 1,693 / 2,181 — Met
  - 1,529 / 1,826 / 1,855 — Met
  - 384 / 577 / -116 — Not Met
  - 769 / 1,492 / 484 — Not Met
  - 1,153 / 1,653 / 308 — Not Met
  - 1,346 / 976 / 226 — Not Met
  - 1,999 / 1,706 / 210 — Not Met
  - 2,653 / 2,416 / 1,762 — Not Met
  - 3,306 / 3,306 / 1,338 — Not Met
  - 3,960 / 3,960 / 619 — Not Met
  - 3,700 / 3,700 / 115 — Not Met

- Net international reserves of the central bank (floor) (millions of U.S. dollar) — selected Act./Met statuses:
  - 194 / 169 / 204 — Met
  - 196 / 150 / 179 — Met
  - 226 / 313 / 332 — Met
  - -57 / -38 / -31 — Met
  - -55 / -32 / -26 — Met
  - -54 / -28 / -28 — Met
  - -29 / -11 / -29 — Not Met
  - -14 / -34 / -45 — Not Met
  - -96 / -58 / -42 — Met
  - -122 / -74 / -45 — Met
  - -137 / -91 / -55 — Met
  - -179 / -85 / 4 — Met

- Net domestic assets of the central bank (ceiling) — selected Act./Met statuses:
  - -1,193 / -845 / -111 — Not Met
  - -1,063 / -425 / 435 — Not Met
  - -1,332 / -2,548 / -1,080 — Not Met
  - 3,602 / 3,334 / 2,376 — Met
  - 4,006 / 3,683 / 3,843 — Not Met
  - 4,397 / 4,030 / 2,776 — Met
  - 3,892 / 3,703 / 2,448 — Met
  - 4,214 / 3,967 / 2,995 — Met
  - 4,722 / 4,554 / 3,743 — Met
  - 1,066 / 804 / 1,209 — Not Met
  - 980 / 1,267 / 1,401 — Not Met
  - 2,277 / 1,747 / 1,282 — Met
  - 2,781 / 2,105 / 1,766 — Met
  - 2,636 / 1,988 / 2,512 — Not Met
  - 3,754 / 2,442 / 1,780 — Met
  - 3,261 / 2,584 / 2,594 — Not Met
  - 3,647 / 3,609 / 4,404 — Not Met
  - 2,867 / 3,502 / 2,916 — Met

*Italicized source attribution below.*

*Source: Table 10. Suriname: Quantitative Performance Criteria and Indicative Targets Under the EFF (selected rows and memorandum items) — (In millions of Suriname dollars, unless otherwise indicated).*

### 3. Non-accumulation of central government domestic debt arrears (continuous ceiling)  (millions of SRD)

### 3. Non-accumulation of central government domestic debt arrears (continuous ceiling) (millions of SRD)

### Continuous ceiling performance (central government domestic debt arrears)
- Ceiling values / outcomes:
  - 0
  - 0
  - Met
  - 0
  - Met
  - 0
  - Met
  - 0
  - 0
  - 0
  - Met

### Memorandum items — key monetary and reserve indicators (exact series as provided)
- Reserve money:
  - 30,312
  - 27,786
  - 28,545
  - 28,663
  - 28,985
  - 30,566
  - 29,668
  - 31,555
  - 30,830
  - 31,736
- Reserve money (local currency portion only):
  - 17,912
  - 18,108
  - 17,772
  - 18,194
  - 18,019
  - 18,881
  - 18,240
  - 19,867
  - 18,381
  - 19,956
- Reserve money (constant exchange rates):
  - 22,596
  - 23,004
  - 22,770
  - 23,195
  - 22,866
  - 23,863
  - 23,055
  - 24,748
  - 23,342
  - 24,908
- NFA (constant exchange rates):
  - 9,557
  - 10,503
  - 8,757
  - 11,376
  - 8,686
  - 11,206
  - 8,547
  - 10,370
  - 10,216
  - 11,820
- Gross international reserves (millions of U.S. dollar):
  - 1,356
  - 1,411
  - 1,366
  - 1,545
  - 1,361
  - 1,536
  - 1,352
  - 1,464
  - 1,555
  - 1,545
- Usable international reserves (millions of U.S. dollar) 5/:
  - 1,121
  - 1,145
  - 1,132
  - 1,278
  - 1,127
  - 1,273
  - 1,117
  - 1,203
  - 1,321
  - 1,286
- Program exchange rate (series):
  - 14.018
  - 14.018
  - 14.018
  - 14.018
  - 14.018
  - 14.018
  - 14.018
  - 14.018
  - 14.018
  - 14.018

### Notes, qualifications, and contextual points (verbatim where provided)
- Source: Authorities and IMF staff calculations and projections.
- 1/ Targets as defined in the Technical Memorandum of Understanding.
- 2/ Cumulative flows from begining of the year.
- 3/ The 2020 figure is a stock as of end-June 2021.
- 4/ The 2020 figure is a stock as of end-December 2020.
- 5/ Official reserve assets excluding the PBOC swap and ring-fenced reserves.
- 7/ Non-observance for the month February 2023
- 6/ The zero new natural-resource revenue-collateralized debt contracted by or on behalf of government is subject to an exception applying exclusively to new oil-resource revenue related-collateralized debt contracted by Staatsolie, which is capped at US$ 2 Billion cumulatively to exclusively finance its stake in the exploration of oil in block 58

*Source: 1surea2025003-print-pdf - 3. Non-accumulation of central government domestic debt arrears (continuous ceiling) (millions of SRD), Authorities and IMF staff calculations and projections.*

### Annex I. Figure 2. Suriname: Debt Coverage and Disclosures

### Annex I. Figure 2. Suriname: Debt Coverage and Disclosures

### Debt coverage and disclosures — scope and coverage
- DSA coverage chosen: central government (CG).
- 1a. If central government, are non-central government entities insignificant? Yes.
- Subsector inclusion in baseline:
  - Budgetary central government: Yes
  - Extra budgetary funds (EBFs): No
  - Social security funds (SSFs): No
  - State governments: No
  - Local governments: No
  - Public nonfinancial corporations: No
  - Central bank: No
  - Other public financial corporations: No
- Commentary:
  - DSA pertains to central government debt, which includes lending for the balance of payments (BOP) portion of IMF disbursements.
  - No estimates for debts of local governments and social security funds; expected to be minimal.
  - No estimate for SOE debts; government enacted a law to extend the legal mandate of the SDMO to encompass the entire Non-Financial Public Sector (NFPC) and monitor the financial status of the ten largest SOEs.
  - A contingency liability stress test of approximately 14.3% of GDP is included in the DSA due to limited debt coverage and anticipated Staatsolie financing for participation in the FID.

### Instrument, accounting, and valuation notes
- Notes and definitions retained in DSA:
  - 1/ CG=Central government; GG=General government; NFPS=Nonfinancial public sector; PS=Public sector.
  - 2/ Stock of arrears could be used as a proxy in the absence of accrual data on other accounts payable.
  - 3/ Insurance, Pension, and Standardized Guarantee Schemes, typically including government employee pension liabilities.
  - 4/ Includes accrual recording, commitment basis, due for payment, etc.
  - 5/ Nominal value at any moment in time is the amount the debtor owes to the creditor. It reflects the value of the instrument at creation and subsequent economic flows (such as transactions, exchange rate, and other valuation changes other than market price changes, and other volume changes).
  - 6/ The face value of a debt instrument is the undiscounted amount of principal to be paid at (or before) maturity.
  - 7/ Market value of debt instruments is the value as if they were acquired in market transactions on the balance sheet reporting date (reference date). Only traded debt securities have observed market values.

### Reporting on intra-government holdings and consolidation
- Debt consolidation across sectors: chosen coverage limited to central government; other subsectors marked as “Not applicable” or “Missing from recommended coverage.”
- Reporting basis: mixed references to consolidated/non-consolidated, cash basis, non-cash basis; many entries marked “Not applicable” in table.

---
### Public debt structure indicators (end-2023 and end-2024 notes)
- By end-2023: public debt reached 98 percent of GDP.
- FX debt: 86 percent of GDP.
- External public debt: 78 percent of GDP.
- Multilateral debt: 42 percent of GDP, with approximately two-thirds owed to the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).
- Other official debt: 13 percent of GDP, primarily owed to China which accounts for 11 percent of GDP.
- Private debt: restructured eurobonds at 16 percent of GDP and other private creditors at 2 percent of GDP.
- Domestic debt: estimated at 14 percent of GDP, with debts mainly owed to:
  - CBvS: 6% of GDP
  - Commercial banks: 2% of GDP
  - Non-banking institutions: 7% of GDP
- Domestic arrears (including supplier arrears): estimated at 4.3 percent of GDP as of the end of 2024.

### Public debt composition visuals (labels retained)
- Perimeter shown is central government for: Debt by Currency, Public Debt by Holder, Public Debt by Governing Law, Debt by Instruments, Public Debt by Maturity.

---
### Annex I. Figure 4. Suriname: Baseline scenario (Percent of GDP unless indicated otherwise)

### Public debt path and change (selected series)
- Public debt:
  - 2023: 98.2
  - 2024: 87.2
  - 2025: 86.6
  - 2026: 81.2
  - 2027: 75.4
  - 2028: 39.9
  - 2029: 27.3
  - 2030: 23.0
  - 2031: 18.6
  - 2032: 15.0
  - 2033: 12.0
- Change in public debt:
  - 2023: -18.7
  - 2024: -11.0
  - 2025: -0.6
  - 2026: -5.5
  - 2027: -5.7
  - 2028: -35.5
  - 2029: -12.6
  - 2030: -4.2
  - 2031: -4.5
  - 2032: -3.6
  - 2033: -3.0

### Contributions to change in public debt (selected components)
- Contribution of identified flows:
  - 2023: -4.6
  - 2024: 0.7
  - 2025: 1.4
  - 2026: 0.8
  - 2027: -4.1
  - 2028: -33.0
  - 2029: -15.4
  - 2030: -5.7
  - 2031: -5.9
  - 2032: -6.1
  - 2033: -6.0
- Primary deficit:
  - 2023: -1.4
  - 2024: -0.3
  - 2025: -2.7
  - 2026: -3.0
  - 2027: -3.0
  - 2028: -5.7
  - 2029: -5.2
  - 2030: -5.3
  - 2031: -5.5
  - 2032: -5.7
  - 2033: -6.0
- Noninterest revenues:
  - 2023: 27.3
  - 2024: 26.7
  - 2025: 28.1
  - 2026: 28.0
  - 2027: 27.6
  - 2028: 24.5
  - 2029: 22.8
  - 2030: 22.6
  - 2031: 22.3
  - 2032: 32.6
  - 2033: 34.2
- Noninterest expenditures:
  - 2023: 25.9
  - 2024: 26.4
  - 2025: 25.4
  - 2026: 25.0
  - 2027: 24.6
  - 2028: 18.8
  - 2029: 17.7
  - 2030: 17.3
  - 2031: 16.8
  - 2032: 26.9
  - 2033: 28.2
- Automatic debt dynamics:
  - 2023: 1.7
  - 2024: -3.3
  - 2025: -0.9
  - 2026: -1.3
  - 2027: -0.9
  - 2028: -25.1
  - 2029: -7.8
  - 2030: -0.1
  - 2031: 0.1
  - 2032: 0.3
  - 2033: 0.7

### Other identified flows and notable items
- Real interest rate and relative inflation contribution:
  - 2023: -6.8
  - 2024: -0.4
  - 2025: 1.8
  - 2026: 1.8
  - 2027: 2.2
  - 2028: 0.2
  - 2029: 0.8
  - 2030: 0.9
  - 2031: 0.7
  - 2032: 0.5
  - 2033: 0.4
- Real GDP growth (memo):
  - 2023: 2.5
  - 2024: 3.0
  - 2025: 3.2
  - 2026: 3.7
  - 2027: 4.0
  - 2028: 50.3
  - 2029: 27.5
  - 2030: 3.8
  - 2031: 2.7
  - 2032: 1.2
  - 2033: -1.6
- Inflation (GDP deflator; percent):
  - 2023: 38.5
  - 2024: 12.5
  - 2025: 7.7
  - 2026: 6.0
  - 2027: 5.9
  - 2028: 17.8
  - 2029: 5.0
  - 2030: 1.7
  - 2031: 3.2
  - 2032: 3.5
  - 2033: 3.8
- Gross financing needs (incl. arrears clearance):
  - 2023: 7.4
  - 2024: 7.5
  - 2025: 5.2
  - 2026: 3.7
  - 2027: 6.5
  - 2028: 1.1
  - 2029: 0.4
  - 2030: 0.2
  - 2031: 0.0
  - 2032: -0.8
  - 2033: -1.7
- Of which debt service (excl. arrears):
  - 2023: 5.7
  - 2024: 7.9
  - 2025: 7.9
  - 2026: 7.2
  - 2027: 9.9
  - 2028: 7.1
  - 2029: 5.9
  - 2030: 5.4
  - 2031: 5.6
  - 2032: 5.0
  - 2033: 4.5
- Local currency vs foreign currency composition of debt service (selected):
  - Local currency (debt service): 2023: 1.6; 2024: 0.7; 2025: 1.1; 2026: 1.5; 2027: 1.5; 2028: 1.8; 2029: 1.1; 2030: 1.2; 2031: 1.7; 2032: 1.6; 2033: 1.5
  - Foreign currency (debt service): 2023: 4.0; 2024: 7.2; 2025: 6.8; 2026: 5.7; 2027: 8.4; 2028: 5.3; 2029: 4.8; 2030: 4.2; 2031: 3.9; 2032: 3.5; 2033: 2.9

### Baseline commentary and policy-relevant implications
- Public debt is expected to fall below 80 percent of GDP by 2027, driven by fiscal adjustments and restructuring agreements, continuing to under 40 percent in 2028 with commencement of block 58 oil production.
- GFNs peaked in 2024 due to principal payments on multilateral debt and clearance of arrears from recent restructuring agreements.
- GFNs anticipated to decrease to 1 percent of GDP by 2028, bolstered by increased oil revenues.
- Maintaining a liquidity buffer, including government deposits, is essential for managing future shocks.
- Note: GFNs are on a cash basis and reflect arrears clearances.

---
### Annex I. Figure 5. Suriname: Realism of Baseline Assumptions

### Assessment highlights
- Tools flag a rapid reduction in public debt and improvement in the primary balance, underpinned by:
  - Authorities' strong commitments to fiscal adjustment,
  - Ongoing debt restructuring,
  - Increased oil production and growth assumptions.
- Interest-growth gap reflects optimism; about half of total financing expected from IFIs without external market access until at least 2027.
- Real exchange rate assumed to converge to equilibrium REER as initial depreciation is reversed by the end of the five-year horizon.
- Comparative signals: optimism vs pessimistic scenarios presented in charting; percentile ranks indicate ambitious 3-year debt reduction:
  - 3-year debt reduction above 75th percentile (5.9 ppts of GDP); percentile rank 92.5.

---
### Annex I. Figure 6. Medium-term risk analysis and stress testing

### Debt fanchart and indices (values)
- Debt fanchart width (percent of GDP): 71.8 1.0
- Terminal debt-to-GDP x: 36.4 0.8
- Debt fanchart index (DFI): 1.8 → Risk signal: Moderate (3/)
- Average baseline GFN (percent of GDP): 4.3 1.5
- Initial banks' claims on the general govt (pct bank assets): 4.4 1.4
- Chg. in banks' claims in stress (pct banks' assets): 7.3 2.4
- GFN financeability index (GFI): 5.3 → Risk signal: Low (4/)
- Medium-term risk: final assessment indicates Moderate risk overall.
- Prob. of missed crisis, 2024-2029, if stress not predicted: 9.1 pct.
- Prob. of false alarms, 2024-2029, if stress predicted: 42.0 pct.

### Medium-term commentary
- DFI moderate risk driven by wide fanchart from historical fluctuations in real exchange rate and inflation.
- Flexible exchange rate regime and prudent policies expected to mitigate risks.
- Risk of debt non-stabilization relatively low due to steady decline in public debt and fiscal adjustments.
- GFN financeability module low risk, aided by declining GFN path.
- Elevated risks from changes in bank claims due to recapitalization needs of CBvS (direct cash injections and use of marketable bonds with bullet maturities).
- Mitigants: significant portion of government revenues in foreign currency and potential increased oil revenues.

### Stress scenarios (Figure 6b)
- Stress scenarios examined: Bank stress, Commodity prices, Contingent liabilities, Exchange rate shock, Natural disaster.
- Visuals show divergence from baseline in final fanchart (percent of GDP) and GFN (percent of GDP) under stress scenarios through 2029.

---
### Annex I. Figure 7. Long-term risk and analysis

### Long-term modules and key scenario results (selected values)
- Staff projection (“Custom Scenario”) selected variables:
  - Real GDP growth (2029): 27.5%
  - Real GDP growth (2033 to 2037 average): 0.9%
  - Real GDP growth (Custom Scenario): 6.7%
  - Primary Balance-to-GDP ratio (2029): 5.2%
  - Primary Balance-to-GDP ratio (2033–2037 avg): 5.7%
  - Primary Balance-to-GDP ratio (Custom Scenario): 5.5%
  - Real depreciation (2029): -5.7%
  - Real depreciation (2033–2037 avg): -3.2%
  - Real depreciation (Custom Scenario): -3.8%
  - Inflation (GDP deflator) (2029): 5.0%
  - Inflation (2033–2037 avg): 3.3%
  - Inflation (Custom Scenario): 3.4%
- Long-term commentary:
  - GFN-to-GDP and public debt-to-GDP diverge rapidly if government followed past 10-year path.
  - Historical 10-year average scenario influenced by crisis period 2020-22; less informative for forward-looking analysis.
  - Staff projection aligned with "Baseline with t+5".
  - GFNs increase over medium term as repayments to restructured claims and IMF loans commence after grace periods.
  - Continued fiscal reforms and sufficient liquidity buffers remain essential.

### Long-term risk drivers and scenario-specific notes
- Demographics / Health:
  - Health cost based on demographic changes could provide additional long-term risks but not material given declining GFN-to-GDP and public debt-to-GDP under continued fiscal consolidation.
- Climate change — Adaptation:
  - Suriname is outside hurricane belt but affected by tails of hurricanes/local storm events, causing flooding.
  - Adaptation scenarios assume additional investment worth 3 percent of GDP per year in both standardized and customized scenarios.
  - Fiscal efforts and liquidity buffers remain important.
- Climate change — Mitigation:
  - Mitigation scenarios assume additional investment worth 5.7 percent of GDP.
  - Additional fiscal costs imply need for continued fiscal and liquidity buffers.
- Natural resources (oil, block 58):
  - Scaled-up oil extraction from block 58 with initial estimates of recoverable reserves of 750 million barrels significantly reduces GFNs and long-term debt path.
  - Mitigating measures for climate change are necessary as they could impact revenues, growth, and debt profile.
  - Continued fiscal consolidation and rebuilding buffers recommended.

---
*Source: IMF staff estimates and projections as presented in Annex I. Figure 2 and accompanying figures of the provided PDF.*

### Annex II. Public Debt Restructuring

### Annex II. Public Debt Restructuring

### Program goals and debt anchors
- Reduce public debt to 60 percent of GDP by 2035.
- Reduce gross financing needs (GFNs) to an average of 9 percent and an upper limit of 12 percent over 2023–35.
- 60 percent debt-to-GDP target aligned with recent IMF-supported restructurings in the region (example countries cited in source: Barbados and Jamaica).

### Baseline scenario assumptions and restructuring terms
- Debt perimeter: External commercial and official bilateral debt (including arrears) totaling about 50 percent of GDP as of end-2021.
- Paris Club (PC) creditors:
  - Restructuring agreement reached June 24, 2022; bilateral agreements with all PC creditors followed; final bilateral agreement with Italy in June 2023.
  - No face value reduction of official debt and ECA-backed commercial debt; amortization paused for 7 years (until 2028) and for 8 years (until 2029) respectively.
  - 60 percent of PC arrears under the bilateral agreement were already paid and the remaining 40 percent was paid in 2024.
  - Phase two of PC restructuring signed in October 2024 providing stock relief; repayments commence in 2030. Discussions ongoing with individual PC creditors on implementing phase two.
- EXIM India:
  - Agreement on official credit lines in March 2023; 60 percent of end-2021 arrears paid, remaining 40 percent paid in 2024.
  - Agreement on loans backed by EXIM India made in May 2023.
- China:
  - Final agreement on phase one of debt restructuring signed in November 2024.
  - Agreements with PC and China include contingencies (clawback provisions) for a second phase of treatment conditional on macroeconomic improvements (notably oil developments).
- External private creditors (bondholders):
  - Agreement in principle (AIP) with bondholders in May 2023; formal debt exchange finalized in November 2023.
  - Pre-CAC participation rate: over 96 percent; post-CAC participation rate: 100 percent.
  - New bonds issued in aggregate principal amount of USD 650 million, plus USD 10 million to cover fees and expenses of the bondholder committee.
  - Interest payments started from 2024 with a coupon of 4.95 percent in cash and a coupon of 3 percent capitalized until January 2026, when the coupon rate increases to 7.95 percent.
  - Amortization: 14 semi-annual installments starting in 2027 equal to 1/14th of the outstanding principal amount.
  - As part of restructuring, bondholders accepted a VRI conditional on new revenue streams from block 58 oil project (Final Investment Decision for block 58 reached October 2024).
  - DSA treatment of the VRI: payment obligations recognized only as expected to materialize (from 2028 onwards); cost reflected as opportunity cost of foregone revenue rather than additional financing or debt accumulation.
- External commercial loans:
  - Agreements reached in April 2024 and December 2024 to restructure the majority of external commercial loans.
  - Negotiations ongoing with one remaining commercial creditor; expected comparable treatment aligned with program parameters.
- Comparability of treatment:
  - DSA assumes PC and China will revisit clawback provisions and be repaid on terms comparable to VRI holders; staff conservatively scale up principal payments proportionate to VRI payments post-2028.
- CBvS (Central Bank of Suriname) restructuring:
  - Legacy debts to the CBvS restructured into a new loan with a grace period of 2 years and a maturity of 27 years.
  - All short-term advances to the CG were repaid to the CBvS in 2023; no outstanding arrears.
  - Losses from restructuring reflected in the CBvS recapitalization plan.
- Other domestic restructuring:
  - As of November 2022, accumulated domestic debt arrears to commercial banks and NBFIs peaked at SRD 3.3 billion.
  - By February 2024, bilateral restructuring negotiations for all domestic debts finalized (mainly rollovers and extended maturities), including a large USD loan to a commercial bank accounting for 50 percent of arrears at end-2023.
  - Authorities implemented an action plan and met continuous IT on non-accumulation of domestic debt arrears.
  - All domestic debt arrears were fully paid by end-December (year implied by context: 2024).
- Supplier arrears and other accounts payable:
  - Total stock of accounts payable: SRD 6.4 billion by December 2024, up from SRD 5.2 billion at end-December 2023.
  - End-2024 composition: SRD 0.403 billion in legacy suppliers arrears, and SRD 0.971 billion in VAT refund claims.
  - Authorities accumulated (on a net basis) SRD 2.97 billion by end-December 2024.
  - About 70 percent of this stock is more than 90 days past due and thus considered supplier arrears.
  - Authorities committed to gradually clearing all verified other accounts payable arrears by 2027 and plan to clear 2.3 percent of GDP in 2025.
  - Suriname: Domestic Suppliers Arrear Clearance in 2025 (Net basis):
    - Arrear repayments: SRD 3,397 (2.3% of GDP)
    - Suppliers: SRD 2,426 (1.6% of GDP)
    - VAT refunds: SRD 971 (0.7% of GDP)
    - Source of these figures: IMF staff estimates.
- Financing assumptions:
  - Financing requirements projected to decline due to external debt restructuring (face-value and coupon reductions).
  - Budget support from the IDB assumed until 2024 (conservative); government might seek further support in 2025+.
  - Project financing from multilaterals assumed to decline as Suriname shifts to market financing of capital expenditures.
  - Domestic financing expected to be limited given gradual market confidence recovery; baseline assumes modest issuance SRD 484 mn in 2026 to test market appetite.
  - 2026/27 residual GFNs assumed met by 100 percent domestic T bonds.
  - External market access assumed to resume in 2028/29.
  - Potential financing gap in 2025/26 filled by CG deposit withdrawals; government deposits of SRD 13.5 billion (9.2 percent of GDP) by end-December-2024 provide a large liquidity buffer.
  - CBvS recapitalization (based on FY2021 audit): set at SRD 9.4 billion, comprising a one-off cash injection of SRD 1.0 billion in February 2025 and marketable bonds issued in January 2025.
    - Bonds: total face value SRD 8.4 billion; maturities 6 to 10 years; coupon rate fixed at 9 percent with semi-annual payments.
- Contingent liability shock:
  - Contingent liability stress test of around 14.3 percent of GDP included in DSA reflecting narrow debt coverage and planned Staatsolie financing for participation in the FID.
  - Staatsolie planned drawdown of the syndicated loan facility estimated up to US$610 million required for 2024/2025.
  - Under this scenario, GFN increases to 18 percent of GDP in 2025, while debt-to-GDP reaches 100 percent in 2025 before easing to 46 percent of GDP by 2028.

### Debt sustainability assessment and risks
- Overall assessment: Public debt assessed sustainable; risk of debt distress assessed moderate.
- Debt dynamics and projections:
  - Public debt expected to fall below 80 percent of GDP by 2027, driven by fiscal adjustments and restructuring agreements.
  - Debt projected to continue on a steady downward trend to under 40 percent in 2028 with the commencement of block 58 oil production.
  - GFNs projected to decline sharply from 7.7 percent of GDP in 2024 to 1 percent in 2028 as royalty revenues from block 58 begin to flow.
  - GFN path anchored by sustained primary surpluses and maintaining a liquidity buffer (including government deposits).
  - If downside risks materialize, further fiscal consolidation beyond program period may be required to create additional buffers.

### External DSA and shocks
- External debt:
  - External debt stood at 110 percent of GDP at end-2024, down from 124 percent at end-2023.
  - Total external debt projected to decline below 70 percent of GDP at end-2028, partly due to large foreign direct investment into block 58 oil project.
- Shock analysis (summary of scenarios and results as presented in source figures and captions):
  - Macroeconomic shocks (interest rate, growth, current account, one-time real depreciation) generally keep external debt below 100 percent of GDP under most scenarios, but shocks pose significant risks.
  - Notable scenario specifics referenced in figures/captions:
    - Interest-rate shock: labelled in figure; permanent one-half standard deviation shocks applied.
    - One-time real depreciation of 30 percent occurs in 2025 in a specified scenario.
    - Growth shock values referenced in figure captions: Baseline: 2.6; Scenario: 3.1; Historical: 2.1 (units: percent per year). Other figure box numbers cited: Baseline: 17.7; Scenario: 14.8; Historical: -1.4; Baseline: -; Scenario: -; Historical: 29.5; Baseline: 0.1. (These figure box numbers are reproduced exactly as shown in the source figures and captions.)
  - Continued internal and external adjustment remains critical for external sustainability.

### Final Investment Decision (FID) and Staatsolie participation
- FID for block 58 announced in October (year implied by context: 2024).
- Staatsolie financing needs to exercise option to hold 20 percent equity by June 2025: USD 2.6 billion.
- Staatsolie intends to raise financing via own cash reserves, domestic FX bonds (USD 200 million), and syndicated commercial bank financing of around (US$1.5 billion).
- Staatsolie’s equity participation provides government exposure to royalty revenues and share of profit oil; Staatsolie’s investment could raise dividend payments to government and expand Staatsolie’s regional footprint.

*Source: Annex II. Public Debt Restructuring (extracted text).*

### Annex IV. Advancing Expenditure Policy Through Digitalization

### Annex IV. Advancing Expenditure Policy Through Digitalization

### A. Suriname’s commitment to digitalization
- Since the early 2010s Suriname has recognized digital transformation as a catalyst for economic development and has actively leveraged GovTech solutions to modernize public administration.
- Key historical milestones and initiatives:
  - 2012: establishment of an e-Government committee with goals including connecting every household to the internet, making all government services available online, and providing every citizen with a secure smart ID card by 2020.
  - 2018: launch of “Safe City” services for security and crime monitoring.
  - 2019: introduction of e-Visa and e-Tourism card systems.
  - April 2021: establishment of a Presidential Working Group on E-Government Development (E-PWG).
  - Ongoing: implementation of X-Road for secure data exchange and development of a national electronic ID system.
- National Digital Strategy 2023-2030 (published 2023) vision and six strategic priorities:
  - Strengthening digital infrastructure.
  - Providing accessible and affordable internet, aiming to allow at least 95 percent of the households in the populated districts and 75 percent of the households in the rural area districts have access to internet broadband services.
  - Delivering digital identity, finalizing e‑Card reading infrastructure by 2025 and achieving nationwide coverage of e-ID by 2030.
  - Improving access to government services, with a target of 25 percent of government departments fully digitized by 2027.
  - Ensuring hybrid and distance digital learning.
  - Increasing citizen awareness and creating and mindset shift.
- International indices and gaps:
  - Suriname lags peers on the World Bank GovTech Maturity Index and scores 0.34 on the UN Government Online Services Index versus a global average of 0.56.
  - Shortcomings include absence of systematic mechanisms to optimize user experience of government digital services, weaknesses in monitoring and evaluation, and gaps in data collection.
  - Opportunities to strengthen citizen engagement (Digital Citizen Engagement Index) and GovTech enablers (GovTech Enablers Index).

### B. Digitalization landscape in Suriname
- Internet access and infrastructure:
  - Internet penetration increased from 31 percent in 2010 to 75 percent in 2022.
  - Growth has been driven mainly by mobile cellular subscriptions; fixed broadband subscriptions have increased much more slowly.
  - TeleSur holds an estimated 85-90 percent market share in the mobile service market and operates 279 cell towers; over half of these support 4G networks and TeleSur is rolling out 5G in the downtown area of the capital city.
  - November 2022: inauguration of the Internet Exchange Point (SUR-IX).
- Digital divide and coverage gaps:
  - Significant divide between coastal and interior regions: mobile internet is available in only 19 out of 392 villages in the interior.
  - Telecom companies show little interest in expanding coverage to interior areas due to low population density and infrastructure constraints, including lack of electricity in some areas.
- Affordability and quality issues:
  - Basic mobile cellular data package costs almost 5 percent of the monthly Gross National Income (GNI).
  - Fixed internet costs about the same as mobile service but download speeds have remained slow with little improvement over the past decade.
  - Optic fiber is available to business but high installation fees deter adoption.
  - Low speeds and instability hinder business adoption of cloud services and other modern tools.
- Infrastructure investment need:
  - Based on the IMF’s Digital Infrastructure Costing Estimator (DICE), the infrastructure investments needed to reach full connectivity in Suriname by 2030 amount to 0.3 percent of GDP per year.

### C. Social dividends from digital transformation
- Overview:
  - Digital transformation can deliver social dividends across social protection, education, and health by improving resource allocation and transparency.
- Social protection (modernization of information systems and delivery):
  - 2021: Ministry of Social Affairs & Housing (MOSAH) launched the Beneficiary Information System (BIS) to digitize application processes.
  - With IDB support, MOSAH is revamping services to merge government databases to automatically assign subsidies and improve targeting effectiveness.
  - Project status: beta of the website is functioning and is projected to be online by May 2025.
  - Use of digital payments via debit cards and the banking system to ensure prompt delivery of financial support.
  - Ongoing focus: fully digitalizing application and intake processes for programs such as the General Child Benefit (AKB) and developing a social beneficiary app for digital submission before intake appointments; digitizing outreach to vulnerable populations.
- Education (digital learning and ICT skills):
  - Only 29 percent of public and subsidized schools have internet access, primarily for administrative purposes.
  - Digital literacy: 40 percent of youth aged 15-24 possess at least one ICT skill.
  - Geographic disparities: 10 percent of youth in the interior have digital skills versus 46 percent in urban areas.
  - Planned measures: expand internet connectivity to schools via partnerships with agencies like Telesur and e-Gov; provide digital teaching kits (laptops, audiovisual equipment, network enablers); address connectivity gaps with solar panels and minor infrastructure upgrades; implement teacher training programs; create culturally relevant materials for indigenous and Maroon students.
- Health (unifying fragmented data and enhancing service efficiency):
  - Health system fragmentation: public providers (Regional Health Service (RGD), Medical Mission (MM)) and private providers operate disconnected data systems; key health data are often collected manually.
  - Consequences: difficulty accessing patient information, coordinating care, and allocating resources effectively; limited IT infrastructure and workforce capacity slow adoption of digital health solutions.
  - Digital health initiatives: Digital Health Agenda Vision 2030 prioritizes development of an interoperable national Electronic Health Record (HER), modernization of IT infrastructure in primary care, and expansion of telehealth.
  - Collaboration with PAHO and IDB to develop a national Health Information Exchange Platform (HIEP) to unify fragmented data sources and enable efficient data-sharing.

### D. Conclusions and policy recommendations
- Key policy priorities:
  - Investment in digital infrastructure:
    - Provide accessible and affordable broadband to unlock e-government and private sector innovation.
    - Further investment needed, particularly in rural and remote areas, despite existing digitization of data registries and digital contracting.
    - IMF DICE estimate: 0.3 percent of GDP per year to reach full connectivity by 2030.
  - Expand accessibility in underserved areas:
    - Implement incentive programs (subsidies, tax benefits) to motivate telecom providers to expand services to remote areas.
    - Explore off-grid innovations such as solar-powered cell towers and satellite-based internet to bypass electricity shortages and connectivity barriers.
    - Example: construction of three hybrid solar energy plants in 2024, which will provide power to 25 villages in Suriname.
  - Targeted and broader digital literacy efforts:
    - Prioritize ICT training for educators and integrate digital literacy into mandatory education.
    - Upskill local workers through vocational training aligned with labor market demands.
    - Implement targeted initiatives: subsidized access to devices, localized digital content in indigenous languages, community-led workshops to empower marginalized groups including women and rural populations.
    - Partner with organizations like IDB, UNDP and PAHO for inclusive participation in the digital economy.
  - Enhance digital governance:
    - Formalize an eGovernment agency supported by legislation to ensure independence and mandate a cohesive cross-government approach.
    - Streamline regulatory frameworks for digital services, data privacy, and cybersecurity.
    - Promote interoperability across ministries and agencies.
    - Explore sustainable funding mechanisms to support long-term digital governance reforms.

*Prepared by Carolina Bloch, Jiemin Ren and Mona Wang (FAD).*

### Appendix I. Letter of Intent

### Appendix I. Letter of Intent

### Background and recent developments
- IMF arrangement: Extended Fund Facility (EFF) approved December 22, 2021 with access of 366.8 percent of quota (SDR 472.8 million or USD 673 million).
- Program progress: Seven consecutive reviews completed (2nd through 8th) after initial delay; aims included restoring fiscal sustainability, lowering public debt, improving social safety net, upgrading monetary policy framework, strengthening financial system viability, and enhancing AML/CFT and anti-corruption frameworks.
- Macroeconomic outcomes and indicators:
  - Inflation: declined from 61 percent in December 2021 to 10 percent in December 2024 (also reported as 10.1 percent year-on-year in December 2024).
  - International reserves: usable international reserves stable at 6.5 months of imports at end-December.
  - Employment: reached pre-crisis levels.
  - Credit rating: Moody’s upgraded long-term local and foreign-currency issuer rating from Caa3 to Caa1 and changed outlook from stable to positive.
- Block 58 Final Investment Decision (FID) announced October 2024:
  - Total Energies and partners expected investment about USD12 billion during 2025-8 with local content component about USD1 billion.
  - Oil production expected to begin in 2028.
- Institutional reforms: Central Bank Act (2022) strengthened autonomy and governance; recapitalization of the central bank completed; Anti-Corruption Commission established; AML/CFT upgrades implemented with 21 of the 40 FATF recommendations upgraded.

### Fiscal policy, budget and corrective measures
- 2025 budget targets: primary surplus of 2.7 of GDP (primary surplus target preserved in draft 2025 budget submitted to parliament).
- Fiscal achievements: fuel subsidies fully eliminated; subsidies on electricity, water, and gas being phased out; VAT introduced and broadened.
- Fiscal slippages and corrective actions:
  - Shortfall vs end-December 2024 primary fiscal balance target due to slippages on electricity subsidies, low non-tax revenues, higher social assistance transfers, and compensation for rice farmers.
  - Measures to close gap of about 2.4 percent of GDP: increased excises on fuel; EBS restarting monthly transfers of additional income (SRD 140 million) to the state budget; Staatsolie to remit a lump sum of SRD 210 million and continue providing agreed discount for thermal power.
  - Postponed non-priority capital spending and increased government fuel take.
- Electricity sector specifics:
  - Electricity tariff increases implemented: average electricity bills increased around 36 percent in 2023; tariff adjustments in 2024 included 40 percent in March and 7 percent in May, July, September and November 2024.
  - Emergency generation: rent 30 MW of emergency generators with additional cost of SRD 200 million per month.
  - Transparency: EBS published audited financial statements for 2019 and 2020 (implemented with delay in February 2025); 2021 financial statements submitted to auditor (end-February SB 2025, met).
  - Tariff policy: tariffs linked to exchange rate, oil price, and shifting energy mix; commercial tariffs reached cost-recovery by mid-2024; discounts for middle-income households to be phased out by end of next year.
  - Budgetary allocation: 2025 budget includes allocations so each ministry/state body pays its electricity bills to EBS.
- Tax administration and VAT:
  - VAT amendments: standard 10 percent VAT rate imposed on 60 percent of household consumption; new 5 percent rate on water, electricity, and cooking gas introduced in June 2024.
  - Registration and compliance: over 4,700 taxpayers registered by December 2024 (target 5,000); filing compliance around 70 percent.
  - Enforcement: ministerial instruction imposing penalties and interest for late filing/payments for returns due June 2024 onwards; outstanding returns January 2023–May 2024 subject to penalties and interest as of April 1.
  - VAT refunds: implementing streamlined, risk-based refund processing; “gold list” for compliant taxpayers; VAT refund profiling mechanism; commitment to monitor and sustainably reduce outstanding VAT refunds.
  - Strengthening Tax Department including Large Taxpayer Unit; moving to semi-autonomous revenue agency supported by recent legislature.
- Wage bill and public employment:
  - Civil servant wage adjustments: average 15 percent increase in July 2024 (wage bill 7.6 percent of GDP in 2024); further 5 percent increase in January 2025.
  - Employment measures: hiring freeze maintained; removal of unregistered and chronically absent workers; remaining unregistered workers (4 percent of public workforce) to be dismissed by end-March (under State Decree issued January 2025).
  - Digital personnel data system rolled out in five ministries in February 2024; expected to cover all ministries by end-2025.
  - Study on salary structure to achieve standardization and revise salary scales for experienced/high-skilled workers.
- Fuel pricing mechanism: fuel subsidies eliminated March 2023; taxes reinstated; automatic pricing mechanism links fuel prices to international prices and adjusts fuel taxes automatically when fuel prices change, with annual inflation adjustments and a tax floor.

### Public debt restructuring
- Status and agreements:
  - Umbrella agreement reached with Paris Club for second phase of debt treatment.
  - Agreements signed: China Exim Bank (first stage) and ICBC (signed November 2024); Israel Discount Bank restructured four commercial loans (signed December 2024).
  - Ongoing negotiations with remaining commercial creditor (Credit Suisse) with expected treatment on comparable terms and in line with program parameters.
  - Outcome: sovereign debt restructuring process close to completion; official and almost all privately-held external debt restructured; domestic debt arrears fully repaid.

### Monetary policy, exchange rate, and FX market
- Monetary stance: restrictive monetary policy has reduced inflation; all monetary targets for the review were met.
  - Reserve money path to be maintained consistent with restrictive stance until inflation is firmly in single digits.
  - Plans to gradually phase out the retail segment of CBCs to improve monetary transmission and increase banking intermediation.
  - Preparations for eventual transition to new monetary policy regime with interest rate as an operating target.
- Exchange rate policy:
  - Commitment to flexible, market-determined exchange rate; CBvS has refrained from FX interventions.
  - Enforcement of 35 percent surrender requirement to increase FX market liquidity, consistent with Article VIII provisions of the IMF.
  - Electronic trading platform launched in February 2025 for interbank FX trading, including AML/CFT compliant secondary banks licensed for FX transactions.
  - Regulations prepared for FX trading platform and FX Auction updated to ensure consistency with program objectives and efficient FX market functioning.

### Financial sector resilience and central bank governance
- Central bank oversight and operations:
  - CBvS published audited IFRS financial statements from 2019 to 2021; commitment to regularize audit cycle by end-2025.
  - Recapitalization plan of the Central Bank finalized and implemented in August 2024.
- Financial sector monitoring and policy:
  - Monitoring of banking system interconnectedness and risks from rapid loan growth.
  - Aligned base for calculation of FX and SRD SNEPS norms with reserve requirements to increase transparency and reduce banks’ procedural burdens.
  - Commitment to options for orderly resolution or liquidation of bank with capital shortages, with principle of preserving financial stability.
- Financial oversight improvements: strengthened financial sector oversight, reduced banking vulnerabilities, and improvements in operational autonomy of the central bank.

### Governance, anti-corruption, and AML/CFT
- Anti-corruption measures:
  - Revision of anti-corruption legal framework to strengthen income and asset declaration requirements for politically exposed persons, routine verification, publication of declarations, and proportionate sanctions for non-compliance.
  - Anti-Corruption Commission established.
- AML/CFT progress:
  - Enacted legislation to align AML/CFT framework with FATF recommendations.
  - Completed second National Risk Assessment (NRA) on ML/TF to address gaps from the first NRA.
  - Recent legislative changes resulted in upgrades for 21 of the 40 FATF recommendations.

### Social assistance and safety nets
- Social spending: spending on social assistance programs doubled (in percent of GDP) during program implementation.
- Targets and implementation:
  - Social assistance spending targets for end-December met with a large margin.
  - Ratified social spending reform plan to increase efficiency and effectiveness of social safety net.
  - Ongoing work on a unified information system, social benefit database, and formation of monitoring and evaluation unit.

### Program completion, financing, and requests to the IMF
- Request for waivers and reviews:
  - Requesting waiver for nonobservance of end-December 2024 QPC on primary fiscal balance of central government (floor, cash basis) based on corrective actions undertaken.
  - Requesting completion of the final review of the extended arrangement under the EFF, which would make available an amount equivalent to SDR 46.8 million (36.3 percent of quota or about USD 62.6 million) upon completion of the review.
    - Of this amount, SDR 33.6 million or about USD 45 million would be for budget support.
  - Requesting completion of the financing assurances review.
- Communication and transparency:
  - Government to publish this letter, attachments, and related staff report on Ministry of Finance and Planning and CBvS websites; authorizes the IMF to publish the letter and attachments.
- Commitments on continuous performance criteria:
  - Government will observe standard continuous performance criteria against imposing or intensifying exchange restrictions, introducing/modifying multiple currency practices, concluding bilateral payment agreements inconsistent with Article VIII of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, and imposing/intensifying import restrictions for balance of payments reasons.

*Source: Appendix I. Letter of Intent; Attachment I. Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (as provided in the source PDF).*

### 10.      We are strengthening fiscal institutions. The reforms focus on improving our tax

### 10.      We are strengthening fiscal institutions. The reforms focus on improving our tax

### Improving treasury management
- Implement a pilot treasury single account (TSA) for a limited set of ministries (structural benchmark for end-January 2025, not met, expected to be implemented by end-March 2025).
- IMF capacity development supporting TSA implementation.
- Implementation actions:
  - Devise new business processes for the TSA.
  - Develop strategy for orderly transition of balances from individual bank accounts to the TSA.
  - Communicate decision to establish TSA broadly across ministries and build capacity for all those involved.
  - Evaluate pilot and consider changes before full rollout in subsequent years.

### Preventing supplier arrears
- Created a cash management unit within the Treasury at end-2023 overseeing TSA implementation, liquidity planning, accounts management, and cashflow management (with IMF CD support).
- April 2024 resolution: government will not be responsible for contracts agreed with line ministries that have no prior authorization from the MoFP.
- Budget Department issues quarterly commitment ceilings to line ministries and enforces them, including through FreeBalance (continuous structural benchmark, not met, implemented with delay in February).
- Institutionalized meetings and data sharing between the Budget Department and the Cash Management Unit.
- Monthly reporting requirement: all line ministries report the stock of arrears to the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MoFP) monthly.
- With IMF CD, actions to enhance arrears information quality and accuracy:
  - Finalized and are using IMF TA proposed template to report on expenditure arrears, including an ageing analysis.
  - Will define and adopt a strategy to clear expenditure arrears accumulated from 2022.
  - Will establish a committee made up of accounting officers with assistance of internal audit and external audit to verify all expenditure arrears.
  - Will include a definition of expenditure arrears in the regulatory framework.

### Strengthening tax administration
- Priority on VAT administration improvements to reduce outstanding stock of VAT refunds and improve compliance and collections.
- Mandated all importers and exporters use the Fiscal Identification Number (FIN) when processing transactions with the Custom and Excise Department; mandate will be expanded to cover all taxpayers by end-March 2025.
- Continue establishing a dedicated VAT refund account to pay refunds.
- With IMF CD, developed a national audit plan with audit risk selection criteria.
- Work with banks to develop an online VAT payment option to improve ease of paying taxes.
- Tax Department conversion: with CD by IDB, Tax Department is being converted into a Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authority — law passed by parliament in December 2024.
  - Expected effects: better organizational structure and higher remuneration for skilled staff.
- Staffing: recruited 25 new staff at the Tax Department (end-November 2024 SB, implemented with delay in December 2024).

### Strengthening fiscal framework (managing new oil wealth)
- Legislation passed (with help from IDB) to strengthen fiscal framework by introducing fiscal rules and revamping the Savings and Stabilization Fund Suriname (SSFS).
- Two fiscal rules introduced:
  - (i) a target for public debt (net of assets in the SSFS) to be reached by the end of the five-year period.
  - (ii) annual primary expenditure limits, consistent with achieving the debt target.
- All mineral revenues to be deposited directly in the SSFS and managed independently by the fund (under strengthened transparency and corporate governance requirements).
- Annual budgets will set the limit for a maximum withdrawal from the fund during a fiscal year to partly finance spending.
- New law includes an escape clause in the event of a national disaster (defined in the legislation).

### Improving debt management and recording
- Improved SDMO back-office capacity and coordination between SDMO, the MoFP, and the CBvS to ensure timely payments of debt obligations.
- Set up an information system for receiving and dispatching information regarding upcoming payments to external creditors.
- With IMF CD, produced and signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) between these parties defining responsibilities for timely information provision and payment processing; MOU specifies escalation processes and inter-agency monitoring procedures.
- Developed a similar MOU governing domestic debt payments (end-December SB 2024, met).
- No new external debt arrears accumulated since the system was set up.
- Commitment to maintain zero arrears to domestic debt creditors (continuous IT) for the remainder of the program.
- Staffing: SDMO staffed with six employees to strengthen back-office functions.

### Improving procurement practices
- Ratified CARICOM’s Protocol on Public Procurement in July 2022.
- Enacted a new procurement law in November 2024 to centralize and mandate publication of all public procurement tenders and contract awards, including:
  - names of awarded entities and their beneficial owner(s),
  - names of public officials awarding the contracts,
  - ex-post validation of delivery of contracted services (structural benchmark for end-September 2023, not met, implemented with delay in November 2024).
- Publication plan: start publishing information in line with the enacted law on an external government website by end-May 2025.
- Collaboration with CARICOM Secretariat to incorporate a procurement module into the Integrated Financial Management Information System and integrate it with the regional system.

### Strengthening public investment management with climate considerations
- With IDB help, upgrading public investment management (PIM) procedures into a PIM manual.
- Will publish manual with general guidelines for economic appraisal of investment projects, including climate change and flood risk management considerations, and sectoral guidelines for key ministries by end-May 2025.
- Engagement with line ministries to sensitize them; plan to formalize guidelines by strengthening PIM governance legal framework and establishing a public investment unit at the Ministry of Finance.

### Strengthening SOE oversight
- Will collect and publish latest financial information for the largest SOEs.
- Initiate quarterly financial monitoring of these SOEs.
- With IMF CD, will produce a report that identifies and quantifies the fiscal risk generated by the largest SOEs by end-March 2025.

### Improving transparency in extractive industries
- Suriname participating in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) since May 2017.
- Committed to fulfill the EITI reporting requirements by end-May 2025 to have Suriname’s temporary suspension reversed.
- Will take corrective measures as laid out by the EITI Board during the 2024 Validation procedure.

### Strengthening the social safety net
- Objective: ensure fiscal consolidation burden is not borne by the poor and vulnerable; channel fiscal space from eliminating generalized energy subsidies to help the poor and vulnerable.
- 2025 budget: budgetary allocation for social assistance will remain adequate to protect the vulnerable.
- Poverty statistics:
  - Around 17.5 percent of the population living below the upper middle income poverty line of US$6.85 (2017 PPP per day) in 2022, down from 44.5 percent in 1999 (when estimates covered urban areas).
  - Poverty highest in the interior: 1 out of 4 Surinamese lives below the upper middle income poverty line compared to 1 out of 6 at the national level.
  - Consumption poverty in the interior is 20 percentage points above the national average.
  - Only 21 percent of adults in rural areas have bank accounts.
- Social protection measures and outcomes:
  - Met all program targets in Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 2024.
  - July 2023: increased value of cash transfers by around 45 percent and expanded coverage of the social beneficiary program (SRD 1800 per month) to include recipients of the general old age pension.
  - December 2023: fast-tracked registration and delivery of digital payments cards to applicants to the new social beneficiary program.
  - January 2024: issued one-off payments to eligible beneficiaries.
  - Social spending increased from 2.5 percent of GDP in 2023 to 3.7 percent of GDP in 2024.
  - Expanding coverage and digitizing the social beneficiary registry and linking it to other relevant databases to strengthen verification of eligibility.
  - Will coordinate increases in social beneficiary program with electricity tariff adjustments to protect vulnerable households while energy subsidies are phased out.
- Strategic plan for social protection:
  - Finalized a home-grown strategic plan in line with Multi-Annual Development Plan 2022–26 (with ILO and IDB diagnostics).
  - Aim to create a single digital beneficiary information system financed by the IDB expected to be ready for implementation by end-2025.
  - Plan to streamline 21 social programs into a smaller set of coherent social programs.
  - Transition to digital payment methods and, where feasible, use banking system payments to improve transparency and oversight.
- Digitalization efforts:
  - Purchased 73,500 government-provided debit cards with IDB help to service traditional and new cash transfer programs.
  - Rolling out digital payments to households in the interior to improve timeliness, cost-effectiveness, and frequency of payments.
  - Digital cash transfer infrastructure viewed as a critical pillar of preparedness for future economic shocks and to improve financial inclusion.
- Transparency in social protection spending:
  - Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing publishes a monthly report on its external website detailing number of households or individuals covered by each program in each district, value of cash transfers made to recipients in each district under each program, and eligibility criteria.

### Restructuring public debt
- Commitment: bring down public debt to 60 percent of GDP by 2035.
- Gross financing needs target: keep gross financing needs below an average of 9 percent of GDP in 2024-35 (and no higher than 12 percent of GDP in any one year).
- Program financing: fiscal position is fully financed in 2025.
- External debt restructuring progress:
  - Agreements reached with all official and all but one commercial creditors.
  - Umbrella agreement with the Paris Club for second phase of debt treatment signed in October (initiating negotiations with individual PCCs).
  - Final agreement with China on phase one signed in November 2024.
  - Restructuring agreement with Israel Discount Bank completed in December 2024.
  - Loans from China ICBC and EXIM restructured under bilateral terms.
  - Agreement signed with ABN AMRO in April to restructure two outstanding loans.
- Sovereign debt restructuring practices: adhered to best practices, considering inter-creditor equity and comparability of treatment of all official and commercial creditors.
- Negotiations: negotiating in good faith with one remaining commercial external creditor; progress slow due to reassignment of Credit Suisse’s debt portfolio to a new arm of UBS bank.
- Government approach built on four pillars: fair treatment for all creditors, transparency and constructive dialogue, commitment to fiscal consolidation and reform, and a sustainable debt solution within the IMF framework.
- Domestic restructurings and arrears:
  - Concluded domestic restructuring of legacy debts to the CBvS in July 2023 and restructuring with selected commercial banks in January 2024.
  - Continued adherence to non-accumulation of domestic debt arrears (continuous IT).
  - Finalized audit and cleared domestic debt obligations owed to the Suriname Pensions Fund.
- Supplier arrears:
  - Cleared SRD2.1 billion of supplier arrears by end December 2024.
  - After reconciliation, stock of supplier arrears stood at SRD 6.9 billion at end December 2024, excluding legacy arrears incurred before Jan 1, 2022 (of SRD 588mn) and VAT refund arrears (of SRD 971mn).
  - Commitment to gradually clear the entire stock of supplier arrears by end-2027.
  - Commit to offsetting any clearance of supplier arrears by lower goods and services spending; fiscal targets evaluated on a cash basis.
  - Actively implementing measures to monitor and prevent accumulation of supplier arrears.

- Debt contracting constraints:
  - Government will not provide guarantees to debt contracted by other parties during the program.
  - Government nor SOEs will not contract new debt collateralized by natural resource revenues (nor allow public sector to contract such debt on behalf of the central government).
  - Exception: Staatsolie may contract new oil-resource revenue-related collateralized debt to finance its stake in exploration of oil in block 58; Staatsolie expected to finance its FID through issuance of a domestic bond and an external bank loan based on Staatsolie’s projected cashflows and balance sheet strength.

### Managing monetary policy
- Tight monetary policy stance maintained until inflation expectations are anchored.
- Tight liquidity supported by:
  - Continued diligent implementation of central bank’s open market operations (OMOs).
  - Increase in local currency reserve requirement from 39 to 44 percent in 2023.
- Inflation and exchange rate developments:
  - Month-on-month inflation has dropped to pre-crisis levels and has stabilized.
  - Exchange rate appreciated in first half of 2024, depreciated in latter half of 2024, and stabilized since then.
- Private sector credit growth has bounced back, supported by rebounded growth and positive economic outlook after the FID.
- Met all monetary targets for this review.

### Improving liquidity forecasting capability
- Deployed a new statistical forecasting framework provided through IMF capacity development to refine CBvS’s liquidity forecasting.
- Implementation of the TSA will gradually move available government deposits in commercial banks to the CBvS, improving ability to forecast liquidity conditions.
- Commitment to keep IMF staff updated on large deposit movements to Central Bank for necessary assistance in recalibrating Reserve Money Targets, if needed.
- Aligned the base for the calculation of the FX and SRD SNEPS norms with that of the reserve requirements for the banks to avoid cumbersome procedures and increase transparency in calculating SNEP norms.
- Continuing implementation of Treasury Single Account for the government to move its deposits out of the banking system and into the central bank.

*Source: 1surea2025003-print-pdf - 10.      We are strengthening fiscal institutions. The reforms focus on improving our tax*

### 20.      We will continue to maintain a restrictive monetary policy stance until inflation is

### 1surea2025003-print-pdf - 20.      We will continue to maintain a restrictive monetary policy stance until inflation is

### Monetary policy stance and operational targets
- Continue to maintain a restrictive monetary policy stance until inflation is firmly down in single digits and inflation expectations are anchored.
- Continue to target reserve money until a new monetary policy framework is in place; pay attention to any inflation surprises and ensure reserve money growth remains calibrated appropriately.
- Move to a more neutral monetary policy stance only once inflation is in the single digits.
- Will not lower reserve requirements for both SRD and FX deposits until a thorough analysis is done in consultation with the IMF staff.

### Preparing for transition to a new monetary policy regime (post-oil inflows)
- Large inflows post-2028 will cause large shifts in quantities and relative prices, making monetary aggregate targets difficult to calibrate.
- Institutional and technical capacity development to shift to interest rates as the primary operational target.
- Priorities to enable interest-rate targeting:
  - Establish a well-functioning interbank market for short-term liquidity so a market-determined short-term interest rate can be an effective operational tool.
  - Develop the domestic money market.
  - Enhance the collateral framework for central bank liquidity facilities.
  - Improve banks' liquidity management practices.
  - Modernize financial market infrastructure.
- Complementary initiatives:
  - Ongoing initiatives to develop and digitize the domestic debt market to deepen the financial sector.
  - Phase out Central Bank Certificates to retail investors and limit counterparties in open market operations to institutions subject to the reserve requirement and appropriate financial oversight.
  - Shift any CBC-R issuances to a market-based mechanism already in place until CBC-Rs are completely phased out.
  - Focus on re-directing the liquidity into the banking system at the maturity of the respective CBC-Rs.

### Central bank liquidity facilities and operational details
- CBvS standing lending and intraday facilities available to help banks cover unexpected short-term liquidity gaps.
- Standing facility priced based on the weighted average price of open-market operations plus a modest spread to prevent excessive reliance.
- Facilities currently underutilized as banks prefer to hold high levels of precautionary reserves.
- Actions to strengthen participation in OMOs:
  - Engage commercial banks to align assessments of excess liquidity and improve understanding of liquidity facilities.
  - Make all instruments issued by the central bank as well as government paper eligible as collateral for CBvS liquidity facilities.
  - Explore digitalizing processes to ease access for healthy banks and reduce paper-based delays.
- If required, CBvS will sterilize liquidity from the use of the facility through OMOs to minimize disruptions to reserve money targets.
- Banks’ access to the ELA is subject to supervisory decision based on viability and solvency assessments and remedial action as needed.

### Foreign exchange policy and market functioning
- FX policy committed to a flexible, market-determined exchange rate; refrained from direct FX interventions.
- Terminated indirect FX sales to essential goods importers starting July 2024.
- MoFP transfers all government net FX receipts (including from IFI budget support) at the prevailing market exchange rate to the CBvS only, except transfers required to meet the government’s domestic FX debt service obligations.
- Electronic FX trading platform launched (implemented with delay in February 2025 after testing phase procurement and technical delays); initial participation limited to inter-bank transactions and AML/CFT compliant secondary banks licensed for FX transactions.
- Circulars 2024-1 and 2024-2 issued on August 29, 2024 to align selected regulatory provisions with IMF best practice criteria on avoiding MCPs.
- Exporter surrender requirement remains in force: exporters required to offer 35 percent of export proceeds to the market; sale of repatriated FX to follow banks’ own daily rates as per CBvS Circular 2023-2 (September 8, 2023).
- Will consult the Fund before issuing any additional FX market regulatory guidance and will refrain from interventions or administrative measures that impede efficient FX market functioning or are inconsistent with the program or Article VIII, Sections 2 and 3 obligations.

### Reducing banking sector risks
- Capital adequacy and asset quality:
  - Reported capital adequacy ratio for the banking system: 22.1 percent as of November 2024.
  - Nonperforming loans continue to decline but the average NPL ratio remains above the five percent benchmark.
- Profitability and liquidity:
  - Banks’ profitability largely depends on profits from the OMOs.
  - Banking system is liquid on aggregate, largely due to high reserve requirements with liquid assets comprising 51.5 percent of total assets.
  - Liquidity distribution uneven across banks and skewed towards one large systemic bank.
- Supervisory and structural measures:
  - Prudently monitor liquidity and consult IMF staff on any monetary policy changes affecting bank liquidity.
  - Monitor risks from rapid credit growth and increased lending rates; continue to prudently monitor CARs and NPL levels.
  - Strengthen supervision of banks’ risk management, credit underwriting, collateralization, follow up and classification practices.
  - Establish a credit registry bureau guided by the CBvS and supported by adequate supervision and regulation to track leverage and close granular data gaps.
  - Develop and implement a macro prudential toolkit based on financial system vulnerabilities; roadmap will start with banks and expand to NBFIs over the medium term.
  - Accompany de-dollarization efforts with sustainable fiscal and credible monetary policy; review FX lending regulation for more prudent FX lending.
  - Improve systemic risk monitoring through liquidity and solvency stress testing, interconnectedness information, and monitoring banks’ maturity gaps.
- Recapitalization, resolution, and governance:
  - Ensure timely completion of bank recapitalization plans.
  - Monitor state-owned bank financial health to ensure capital recovery stems from a sustainable business model and enhance governance, risk management, internal audit, and internal control functions.
  - Conclude discussions on options for orderly resolution or liquidation of a private bank with capital shortages, guided by preserving financial stability.
  - Any government solvency support designed for viable banks under strict conditionality with a clear exit strategy.
  - Structural reforms to strengthen supervision: ensure state-owned banks operated on a fully commercial basis; adopt risk-based supervision aligned with amendments enacted in January 2024 (Banking and Credit System Supervision Act and Bank Resolution Act).
  - Prepare supplementary regulations to support Bank Resolution Act implementation and explore establishment of a Competition Authority and Competition Law.

### Other financial sector reforms and AML/CFT
- Strengthen supervision of insurance and pension sectors, assess lending practices and profitability sources, monitor interconnectedness with banking system, introduce stricter reporting for NBFIs, and implement asset classification regulations and fit-and-proper criteria for ownership.
- Drafted Virtual Asset Service Providers Supervision Act, considering IMF recommendations.
- Enhance capital market and electronic payment systems, establish credit reporting, deposit insurance, and enhance electronic transactions; CBvS drafting acts and regulations in these areas.
- Ongoing AML/CFT strengthening:
  - Revised AML/CFT regulation for banks and nonbanks issued in April 2024.
  - Given limited resources, prepare a comprehensive plan to coordinate and integrate reform initiatives with IMF and other technical assistance.
- Progress in AML/CFT and anti-corruption:
  - Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) installed in May 2023 for a 5-year term after UNCAC ratification.
  - Changes to legal framework to create an asset and income declaration (AID) scheme in line with international best practice; structural benchmark for end-February 2025 (not met). Amendment submitted to the National Assembly for enactment.
  - Discussions with potential providers, including IDB, for an electronic management program for the AID scheme; will liaise with IMF.
  - New AML/CFT law enacted in November 2022; further amendments approved by the National Assembly in July 2024 to align with FATF recommendations.
  - New AML/CFT directives issued in March and April 2024; supervision legislation pending in the National Assembly with technical assistance from IMF, UNODC, and World Bank.
  - Suriname compliant with 21 out of the 40 FATF recommendations (and 21 out of the 40 CFATF recommendations as reported).
  - Remaining reforms required for full CFATF compliance include: (i) risk-based AML/CFT supervision for all financial institutions; (ii) risk-based supervisory framework for DNFBPs; (iii) adequate resources for the FIU; (iv) amending international sanctions framework related to UN Security Council Resolutions on Terrorism and Proliferation Financing.
  - Ongoing amendments and draft legislation across Money Transfer Offices Supervision Act, Capital Market Act, Pension Funds Act, Insurance Supervision Act, Payment Providers Supervision Act, Virtual Asset Service Providers Supervision Act, and gaming sector supervision proposals.
  - A second National Risk Assessment completed with Kroll AML Division; sectoral risk analysis completed with OAS-DTOC; SRA and NRA findings reported to CFATF in December 2024.

### Improving monetary governance and CBvS audit/capitalization
- Financial statements and audits:
  - FY 2020 IFRS audited financial statements published in November 2023.
  - FY 2021 IFRS audited financial statements published in August 2024 (end June 2024 SB, not met, implemented with delay in August 2024).
  - Expect to publish FY 2022 IFRS audited financial statements in March 2025 (end January 2025 SB, not met).
  - Audits of program monetary data for each test date since program start have not raised material issues.
  - Continue co-sourcing specific audits while building internal capacity.
- Foreign exchange regulation review:
  - Aligned the Foreign Exchange Regulation act with the new Central Bank Act.
  - Formed a working group to undertake a full review of the Foreign Exchange Regulation of 1947 with recommendations to be finalized by the end of 2025 in consultation with IMF staff.
  - In the interim, only the CBvS will issue circulars related to the exchange rate and foreign exchange market.
- CBvS recapitalization:
  - Implemented the CBvS recapitalization plan based on FY 2021 published audited financials with provisions to inject more equity should finalized FY 2022 and FY 2023 financial audits or a realized lower market value of instruments used for recapitalization imply higher recapitalization needs.
  - Stand ready for further capital injections to ensure CBvS equity remains above the minimum level as outlined in the Central Bank Act.

*Source: 1surea2025003-print-pdf - selected sections on monetary, financial sector, governance, and AML/CFT reforms.*

### 35.      Suriname is vulnerable to climate change. Despite a low carbon footprint and being a

### Suriname is vulnerable to climate change.

### Climate vulnerability and adaptation needs
- Suriname is carbon negative and has a low carbon footprint, but its dominant economic activity is in the low-lying coastal area.
- Future climate-related events could disrupt economic activity and cause substantial long-term damage to the economy.
- Hence, preparedness for climate adaptation is warranted.

### Institutional reforms to enhance mitigation and adaptation
- The National Institute for Environment and Development (NIMOS) has been transformed into National Environmental Authority Suriname (NMA) with a legislative mandate to build safeguards against climate issues.
- The authority will have the power to assess any public and private capital projects using the environmental impact assessment framework against negative externalities arising from climate issues and provide mitigation measures.
- A repository, Dondru, has been created where information on climate change mitigation and adaptation can be easily accessed for national policy and planning.
- A strong collaboration between the MoFP and the environment authority is critical to ensure climate issues are incorporated into Suriname’s fiscal framework.
- The government will publish a public investment management manual with general guidelines for the economic appraisal of investment projects including climate change and flood risk management considerations, and sectoral guidelines for key ministries by May 2025.

### Climate finance initiatives
- In August, Suriname launched the world's first sale of carbon credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement based on preservation of Suriname’s forests.
- Suriname’s forests cover 93 percent of the country and offer the absorption of over 20 million tons of carbon annually.
- The price of this carbon credit is estimated to be worth USD 25-35 per ton.
- The authorities will seek technical assistance from development partners to assess potential benefits and challenges, including as potential guarantors for DNS, and to identify possible conservation projects as climate protection pledges.

### Statistics and data-strengthening commitments
- The authorities are committed to improving the quality and dissemination of economic data, supported by IMF technical assistance.
- Capacity improvements for the General Bureau of Statistics include increasing their budget to hire additional qualified staffs and a council of ministers approved a salary increase for their staff.
- Remaining data weaknesses identified: National Accounts, CPI, public debt, and fiscal sector statistics.
- Specific statistical objectives:
  - Improve timelines of annual GDP and generate quarterly GDP statistics.
  - Improve data quality of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and start publishing detailed monthly CPI data including all its subcomponents.
  - Broaden the institutional coverage of fiscal statistics to the public sector to better assess fiscal risks and publish data that accurately reports all domestic arrears on a monthly basis.
- The authorities will seek technical assistance from international partners to support these efforts.

### Program monitoring (summary)
- The economic program supported by the EFF is monitored through quarterly reviews, quantitative and continuous performance criteria, indicative targets, and structural benchmarks.
- Quantitative performance criteria, standard non-quantitative continuous targets, and structural benchmarks are defined in the Technical Memorandum of Understanding (TMU) and accompanying tables.
- Selected program-related numeric indicators and targets (as reported):
  - Forest coverage: 93 percent.
  - Carbon absorption: over 20 million tons of carbon annually.
  - Carbon credit price estimate: USD 25-35 per ton.
  - Planned publication deadline for public investment management manual: May 2025.

*Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/cr/2025/english/1surea2025003-print-pdf.pdf*

### 1. Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of central government (floor) 2/

### 1. Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of central government (floor) 2/

### Quantitative performance (primary fiscal balance)
- Reported entries (sampled from tables):
  - 1,538; 2,085; 162; Not Met
  - 1,922; 2,220; 52; Not Met
  - 692; 556; -50; Not Met
- Sequence of targets, adjusted targets, actuals and observance status (selected rows):
  - 1,346; 976; 226; Not Met
  - 1,999; 1,706; 210; Not Met
  - 2,653; 2,416; 1,762; Not Met
  - 3,306; 3,306; 1,338; Not Met
  - 3,960; 3,960; 619; Not Met
  - 3,700; 3,700; 115; Not Met

### Other fiscal/debt quantitative performance criteria
- New natural resource revenue-collateralized debt contracted by or on behalf of the central government and/or SOEs (continuous ceiling) (U.S. dollars):
  - 0; 0; Met (repeated across reporting rows)
- New central government guaranteed debt (continuous ceiling):
  - 0; 0; Met (repeated)
- Non-accumulation of central government external debt arrears (continuous ceiling) (millions of U.S. dollars):
  - 0; 0; Met (repeated)

### Monetary targets and outcomes
- Gross credit to the central government by the central bank (continuous ceiling):
  - 0; 0; -1,662; Met (repeated entries)
  - Final row: 0; 0; -1,661.8; Met
- Net international reserves of the central bank (floor) (millions of U.S. dollar) 2/:
  - -29; -11; -29; Not Met
  - -14; -34; -45; Not Met
  - -96; -58; -42; Met
  - In the multi-period table: -122; -74; -45; Met; -137; -91; -55; Met; -179; -85; 4; Met; -143; -89; -5; Met; -158; -155; -59; Met; -76; -121; 49; Met
- Net domestic assets of the central bank (ceiling) 2/:
  - 1,066; 804; 1,209; Not Met
  - 980; 1,267; 1,401; Not Met
  - 2,277; 1,747; 1,282; Met
  - In the multi-period table: 2,781; 2,105; 1,766; Met; 2,636; 1,988; 2,512; Not Met; 3,754; 2,442; 1,780; Met; 3,261; 2,584; 2,594; Not Met; 3,647; 3,609; 4,404; Not Met; 2,867; 3,502; 2,916; Met
- Direct purchases/sales of FX by the central bank and/or central government from/to SOEs and private sector (millions USD) (continuous ceiling):
  - 0; 0; 0; Met (repeated)

### Central government mineral revenue and indicative targets
- Central government mineral revenue in local currency (ceiling) (millions of U.S. dollar) 2/:
  - 30; 30; 9; Met
  - 30; 30; 11; Met
  - 30; 30; 13; Met
- Indicative targets:
  - Social spending of central government (floor): 2,617; 2,617; 2,931; Met
  - Stock of VAT refunds outstanding (ceiling): 909; 909; 748; Met
  - Further row: 722; 722; 693; Met

### Memorandum items (selected series and levels)
- Reserve money (various reporting dates): 29,526; 28,238; 28,004; 27,768; 30,127; 27,124
- Reserve money (local currency portion only): 17,202; 17,389; 17,570; 17,281; 17,749; 17,134
- Reserve money (constant exchange rates): 22,110; 22,160; 22,312; 22,023; 22,463; 21,956
- NFA (constant exchange rates): 10,656; 10,773; 11,073; 11,073; 9,926; 10,546
- Gross international reserves (millions of U.S. dollar): 1,365; 1,364; 1,396; 1,350; 1,382; 1,410
- Usable international reserves (millions of U.S. dollar) 5/: 1,131; 1,130; 1,162; 1,090; 1,148; 1,151
- Program exchange rate: 14.018 (repeated across rows)

### Structural benchmarks under the EFF (selected measures, dates, and status)
- Exchange rate/monetary/safeguards:
  - Establish competitive FX auctions for the CBvS to undertake buying/selling of FX during periods of disorderly market conditions — December 2021 — Met
  - Establish an electronic trading platform for inter-bank/cambio FX trading — June 2022 — Not met
  - Develop a time-bound plan for the CBvS’s recapitalization agreed between the CBvS and the government — September 2022 — Not met
  - Publish on the CBvS's external website the FY 2016 - 2018 audited financial statements — December 2021 — Not met; implemented with a delay in February 2022
  - National Assembly to pass amendments to strengthen CBvS mandate/autonomy — January 2022 — Not met; implemented with a delay in April 2023
  - Publish FY 2020-2021 audited IFRS financial statements on CBvS website — June 2024 — Not met; implemented with delay in August 2024
  - Publish FY 2022 audited IFRS financial statements on CBvS website — January 2025 — Not met
  - Establish electronic trading platform expanded to gold exporters — September 2023 — Not met; implemented with delay in February 2025
  - Submit legislative amendment to Foreign Exchange Regulation 1947 — December 2023 — Not met; implemented with delay in May 2024
- Financial sector/crisis preparedness (selected):
  - Undertake full asset quality review for the two largest banks — September 2022 — Met
  - Submit Credit Institutions Resolution Act to State Council — January 2022 — Not met; implemented with delay in February 2023
  - Operationalize Financial Stability Committee — January 2022 — Not met; implemented with a delay in April 2022
  - Undertake full asset quality review for remaining banks — December 2022 — Not met; implemented with delay in May 2023
  - CBvS and MoF agree on governance framework for state-owned banks — December 2023 — Not met; implemented with delay in February (year not specified)
- Fiscal and debt (selected):
  - Publish time-bound plan to implement TSA recommendations — January 2022 — Met
  - Audit on outstanding supplier arrears — April 2022 — Met: audit completed in May 2023
  - Passage of laws needed to implement the VAT by the National Assembly — March 2022 — Not Met; implemented with a delay in August 2022
  - Publish plan to scale back tax exemptions aimed at raising additional revenue of 0.4 percent of GDP — March 2022 — Not Met; Implemented in February 2023 budget
  - Create a large taxpayer unit — June 2022 — Not Met; implemented with a delay in July 2022
  - Publish quarterly budget execution report starting with end-June 2023 outturns — Continuous — Met for end-September 2024 and end-December 2024
  - Fully repay domestic debt arrears — 15 March 2024 — Not Met; implemented with delay in July 2024
  - Implement a pilot Treasury Single Account for a limited set of ministries — January 2025 — Not met
- Governance and AML/CFT (selected):
  - Ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) — January 2022 — Met
  - Operationalize Anti-Corruption Commission — March 2022 — Not Met; implemented with a delay in May 2023
  - Amend Anti-Corruption legal framework to criminalize acts of corruption — June 2024 — Met
  - Amend AML/CFT law to bring into line with FATF standards — August 2022 — Not Met; implemented with a delay in November 2022
  - Enact new procurement law to centralize and mandate publication of tenders and awards — September 2023 — Not Met; implemented with a delay in November 2024

### Key takeaways (from the reported program monitoring tables)
- The primary fiscal balance (cash basis) repeatedly failed to meet the floor in multiple reporting periods (entries recorded as Not Met across many rows).
- Several monetary targets show mixed observance: gross credit to the central government by the central bank consistently reported negative actuals (e.g., -1,662; -1,661.8) and marked Met; net international reserves and net domestic assets show instances of both Met and Not Met across reporting dates.
- New natural-resource revenue-collateralized debt and new central government guaranteed debt remained at zero and were observed as Met throughout the reporting rows.
- Indicative social spending targets were met in reported instances (e.g., 2,617; 2,617; 2,931; Met; and 3,785; 4,240; Met).
- Structural benchmarks exhibit a mix of Met, Not Met, and many cases of “Not met; implemented with delay,” indicating implementation slippages across exchange rate/monetary, financial sector, fiscal, governance, and AML/CFT measures.

*Source: Authorities and IMF staff calculations and projections (from tables and Technical Memorandum of Understanding included in the provided content).*

### 1.      The QPC and IT are shown in Table 1 of the MEFP. Structural benchmarks are listed in

### 1surea2025003-print-pdf - 1.      The QPC and IT are shown in Table 1 of the MEFP. Structural benchmarks are listed in

### Program accounting exchange rates and valuation rules
- For program purposes, all foreign currency-related assets, liabilities, and flows will be evaluated at “program accounting exchange rates,” except items affecting government fiscal balances, which will be measured at current exchange rates.
- U.S. dollar denominated components of the Central Bank of Suriname (CBvS) balance sheet will be valued at the official exchange rate of the Surinamese dollar to the U.S. dollar of 14.0180 set by the CBvS as of December 31, 2020.
- Cross-rates as of December 31, 2020, for conversion into U.S. dollars:
  - Euro: 1.2281 U.S. dollars
  - Pound Sterling: 1.3600 U.S. dollars
  - Chinese Yuan: 0.1532 U.S. dollars
  - Special Drawing Right (SDR): 1.4403 U.S. dollars
- Official gold holdings valued at 1,892.0 U.S. dollars per fine ounce.

### Key institutional and variable definitions used for quantitative performance criteria (QPC)
- Definition of central government (CG):
  - CG consists of institutions and government units currently covered under the state budget.
  - Newly formed public sector entities will be examined and included within the CG perimeter if adjudged to meet the definition of a CG unit per the Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014.
- Definition of State-Owned Enterprises (SOE):
  - SOEs consist of corporations that (i) the CG is a shareholder; or (ii) are controlled by the CG directly or indirectly through other government-controlled entities.
  - Control can be established through legislation or equity participation.
- Definition of debt:
  - Debt determined according to the residency criterion; includes nonresident holdings of Suriname law local currency and foreign currency debt.
  - “Debt” means a current (not contingent) liability under a contractual arrangement requiring future payments in assets or services; primary forms include:
    - i. loans (including deposits, bonds, debentures, commercial loans, buyers’ credits, repurchase agreements, and official swap arrangements);
    - ii. suppliers’ credits (deferred payment contracts);
    - iii. leases (debt equal to the PV at lease inception of all lease payments expected during the agreement excluding operation/repair/maintenance payments).
  - Arrears, penalties, and judicially awarded damages arising from failure to pay under a contractual obligation that constitutes debt are debt.
  - Failure to make payment on an obligation not considered debt under this definition (e.g., payment on delivery) will not give rise to debt.
  - A debt is considered contracted when all conditions for its entrance into effect have been met, including approval by the National Assembly.
  - Contracting of credit lines with no predetermined disbursement schedules or with multiple disbursements is also considered contracting of debt.
- Fiscal year: calendar year, January 1 to December 31.

### Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of Central Government (Floor)
- Definition and measurement:
  - Primary fiscal balance (cash basis) of the CG is calculated as cumulative CG interest payments minus total net borrowing requirements from the beginning of the year.
  - Net borrowing requirements (NBR) are measured at official (current) exchange rates and equal the sum of:
    - i. The change in net CBvS credit to the CG, including changes in the government deposit position at the CBvS and excludes any accrued interest;
    - ii. The change in net credit from depository corporations, including changes in CG deposits and the net issuance of treasury bills, lending, and other CG securities held by commercial banks and excluding any accrued interest;
    - iii. The change in net non-bank credit to the CG, including net issuance of Treasury bills and other CG securities to non-banks, and other CG claims and debts vis-à-vis nonbank institutions and excluding any accrued interest;
    - iv. New external loan disbursements net of external loan amortization including repayment of external arrears;
    - v. Net sale of government assets (financial including privatization receipts).
- CG interest payments:
  - Defined on a cash basis as interest paid on CG domestic and external debt obligations.
- Mineral revenue (definition and role):
  - Mineral revenue = government’s tax and non-tax proceeds from state-oil company Staatsolie Suriname and from gold companies; includes corporate tax, wage tax (including old age fund contributions), dividend tax, indirect taxes, dividends, royalties and others. Royalties from small scale gold mining are included.
  - The QPC for the fiscal balance is calculated based on the projected official exchange rate. Reporting and adjustments will be made using the current official exchange rate.
- Reporting:
  - Fiscal data provided to the Fund with a lag of no more than six weeks after the end of the month.
- Adjusters to the floor on cumulative primary cash balance of the CG:
  - 1. Downward (upward) to the full extent that cumulative project loans are more (less) than project loans given in Table 2.
  - 2. Upward to the extent of any rise in mineral revenue above the cumulative baseline projections given in Table 1.

### Table 1 — Total Mineral Revenues of CG (cumulative flows from the beginning of the fiscal year, In SRD millions)
- End-January 2024: 1,409
- End-February 2024: 2,818
- End-March 2024: 4,227
- End-April 2024: 5,499
- End-May 2024: 6,874
- End-June 2024: 9,214
- End-July 2024: 11,261
- End-August 2024: 13,015
- End-September 2024: 16,278
- End-October 2024: 16,789
- End-November 2024: 17,307
- End-December 2024: 17,611

### New natural resource revenue-collateralized debt contracted by or on behalf of the CG and/or SOEs (Continuous Ceiling)
- Definition:
  - Ceiling applies to new natural resource revenue-collateralized debt (domestic and external) contracted on a gross basis by or on behalf of the CG and/or SOEs throughout the program.
  - Natural resource revenue-collateralized debt = debt that creates a security interest, charge or lien over any natural resource, natural resource receivables, or the proceeds from sale/lease of natural resources.
  - Use of a collection account where no charge or lien is created is excluded.
  - External debt contracted due to external debt restructuring (to be agreed between authorities and creditors) is excluded.
  - Ceiling applies to prefinancing arrangements where debt is contracted against future sales of natural resources.
  - Exception: contracting of new oil-resource revenue-related collateralized debt by Staatsolie to finance its stake in exploration of oil in block 58 is allowed under a continuous cumulative non-zero ceiling of US$ 2 Billion.
  - Official exchange rate applies to all non-SRD denominated debt.
- Reporting:
  - Data provided to the IMF on a continuous basis, including any new debt contracts entered into by the CG and/or SOEs to verify absence of security interests, charges, or liens over natural resources.

### Table 2 — Budget and Project Financing in FX (Baseline Projection) (Cumulative flows from beginning of fiscal year, In USD millions)
- External loans from IFIs for budget financing 1/:
  - End-January 2024: 0
  - End-February 2024: 0
  - End-March 2024: 0
  - End-April 2024: 0
  - End-May 2024: 0
  - End-June 2024: 0
  - End-July 2024: 0
  - End-August 2024: 0
  - End-September 2024: 0
  - End-October 2024: 0
  - End-November 2024: 0
  - End-December 2024: 150
  - 1/ Excluding IMF disbursements.
- External debt from bilateral and private creditors for budget financing 2/:
  - All months End-January 2024 through End-November 2024: 0
  - End-December 2024: 0
  - 2/ Including international capital markets.
- External loans for project financing:
  - End-January 2024: 4
  - End-February 2024: 9
  - End-March 2024: 13
  - End-April 2024: 18
  - End-May 2024: 22
  - End-June 2024: 22
  - End-July 2024: 27
  - End-August 2024: 31
  - End-September 2024: 37
  - End-October 2024: 93
  - End-November 2024: 102
  - End-December 2024: 111

### New Central Government Guaranteed Debt (Continuous Ceiling)
- Definition:
  - Ceiling applies to amount of guarantees issued by the CG for debt contracted by any agency or entity outside the CG.
  - For program purposes, a guarantee arises from any explicit legal or contractual obligation of CG to service a debt owed by a debtor outside the CG (payments in cash or in kind).
  - Official exchange rate applies to all non-SRD denominated debt.
- Reporting:
  - Data provided to the IMF on a continuous basis.

### Non-accumulation of Central Government external debt arrears (Continuous Ceiling)
- Definition:
  - Non-accumulation of arrears by the CG on contractual debt obligations owed to non-resident creditors is a continuous performance criterion.
  - External payments arrears defined as external debt obligations of the CG not paid within 30 days after contractual due date, or within contractual grace period, whichever is longer.
  - Arrears resulting from nonpayment of debt service where a rescheduling or restructuring agreement is being sought, based on good faith negotiations, are excluded.
- Calculation and reporting:
  - Stock of external arrears calculated based on schedule of external payment obligations reported by the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MoFP).
  - Data reconciled with relevant creditors; necessary adjustments incorporated as they occur.
  - Data provided to the IMF on a continuous basis.

### Gross credit to Central Government by the CBvS (Continuous Ceiling)
- Definition:
  - Ceiling on change in gross credit provided to the CG by CBvS (including overdrafts) is a continuous performance criterion.
  - Measured from end-June 2021 for 2021 and from beginning of the year for 2022.
  - Coins and notes issued by the MoFP and claims on IMF related to the valuation of IMF account no 1 and 2 are excluded from the definition.
  - Stock of gross credit valued at fair value and at program exchange rates.
  - Changes in the stock of the COVID-19 Fund approved by Parliament in 2020 constitute gross credit from the CBvS to the CG.
  - Rolling over CG principal and interest payments due to the CBvS does not constitute gross credit.
- Reporting:
  - Data provided to the IMF on a continuous basis.

### Net international reserves (NIR) of the CBvS (Floor)
- Definition and scope:
  - Floor applies to cumulative flows from the beginning of the year (end-December level of NIR of the previous year).
  - NIR defined as U.S. dollar value of difference between reserve assets and reserve liabilities.
  - Reserve assets include:
    - (i) foreign exchange (foreign currency cash, deposits with foreign correspondents, holdings of foreign securities);
    - (ii) monetary gold;
    - (iii) IMF reserve position;
    - (iv) SDR holdings.
  - Excluded from foreign assets: assets pledged, collateralized, encumbered; CBvS claims on resident banks and nonbanks; claims in foreign exchange arising from derivatives vis-à-vis domestic currency; precious metals other than monetary gold; assets in nonconvertible currencies; illiquid swaps; any reserve assets not readily available for intervention.
  - Reserve liabilities include:
    - (i) all short-term foreign liabilities of the CBvS vis-à-vis nonresidents denominated in convertible foreign currencies with original maturity of one year or less;
    - (ii) all outstanding credit from the IMF resulting from purchases;
    - (iii) nominal value of all derivative positions (including swaps, options, forwards, and futures) of the CBvS implying sale of foreign currency or other reserve assets;
    - (iv) all foreign exchange liabilities of the CBvS to resident entities excluding foreign exchange liabilities to the CG.
- Reporting:
  - CBvS provides data on foreign reserves and foreign exchange cash flow to the Fund once a week.
  - Data in Table 3 to be provided monthly, in both official and program exchange rates, with lag no more than two weeks after end of the month.
  - At each program test date, quarterly data on NIR submitted by CBvS to IMF will be audited by CBvS external auditors in accordance with International Standards on Auditing; reports to be submitted to CBvS with copy to the IMF no later than 60 days after each test date.
  - Data on total foreign exchange mineral revenue provided by government to IMF on a weekly basis; inflows of government’s FX mineral revenue to CBvS monitored as part of weekly reporting of CBvS purchases and sales of foreign currency.
- Adjusters to NIR targets:
  - 1. Upward (downward) by full amount of cumulative surplus (shortfall) in program loan disbursements from IFIs relative to baseline projections in Table 2. Program loan disbursements defined as external loan disbursements from official creditors usable for financing of the CG.
  - 2. Upward (downward) by full amount of cumulative surplus (shortfall) in loans from official bilateral and private creditors (including international capital markets) relative to baseline projections in Table 2.
  - 3. Upward (downward) by full amount of cumulative surplus (shortfall) in the sum of government’s total mineral and other revenues received in foreign exchange that are transferred to the CG account at the CBvS, with exemption of pending transfers to foreign bank account of the CBvS, relative to baseline projections reported in Table 4. Mineral revenue in FX defined as government’s FX tax and non-tax proceeds from Staatsolie Suriname and from gold companies; includes corporate tax, wage tax (including old age fund contributions), dividend tax, indirect taxes, dividends, royalties and others. Royalties from small scale gold mining included. Other FX revenues = any revenues in foreign exchange other than mineral revenue.
  - 4. Downward (upward) by full amount of cumulative surplus (shortfall) in CG and CBvS’s debt service payments in foreign exchange relative to baseline projections reported in Table 5.
  - 5. Downward by amount of FX sales by CBvS insofar as sales occur via competitive auctions in response to intraday depreciation in exchange rate versus the U.S. dollar that is more than 2 percent and are less than USD 2 million per day. This adjustor is capped at USD 20 million per quarter.

### Table 3 — International Reserves (USD million, unless otherwise specified) (As of 31-Dec-20)
- Reserve assets: 128.9
  - IMF reserve position: 2.8
  - IMF SDR: 1.1
  - Foreign currency cash and deposits with foreign banks: 125.0
- Reserve liabilities: 283.1
  - IMF program disbursements outstanding: 20.9
  - Other liabilities with non-residents: 0.1
  - Liabilities with residents: 262.2
    - Reserve Requirements (non-ringfenced): 5.6
    - Reserve Requirements (the ring-fenced sovereign bond): 10.3
    - Working balance accounts of commercial banks: 69.0
    - Long-term loan to commercial banks: 177.3
    - Other: 0.0
- Net international reserves: -154.3
- Source for Table 3: Central Bank of Suriname.

### Table 4 — Total FX Mineral Revenue Received by Government and Other FX Revenues of CG Transferred to CBvS (Baseline Projection) (Cumulative flows from beginning of fiscal year, In USD millions)
- End-June 2023: 46
- End-July 2023: 67
- End-August 2023: 89
- End-September 2023: 117
- End-October 2023: 135
- End-November 2023: 153
- End-December 2023: 170
- End-January 2024: 19
- End-February 2024: 38
- End-March 2024: 65
- End-April 2024: 80
- End-May 2024: 102
- End-June 2024: 112
- End-July 2024: 143
- End-August 2024: 158
- End-September 2024: 184
- End-October 2024: 200
- End-November 2024: 256
- End-December 2024: 266

*Source: 1surea2025003-print-pdf (IMF staff text provided).*

### 24.      Definitions: The ceiling applies to cumulative flows from the beginning of the year. The

### 1surea2025003-print-pdf - 24.      Definitions: The ceiling applies to cumulative flows from the beginning of the year. The

### Monetary aggregates: definitions and end-2020 stocks
- Net domestic assets (NDA) of CBvS:
  - Defined as the difference between reserve money and net foreign assets (NFA).
  - Items in foreign currencies are valued at fair value and at program exchange rates.
  - NDA amounted to SRD 8,777.1 million as of December 31, 2020 (Table 6).
- Reserve money (at program exchange rates):
  - Defined as: currency in circulation; commercial banks’ deposits in correspondent accounts at the CBvS; statutory cash reserve requirements against prescribed liabilities in SRDs and foreign currency held by commercial banks at the CBvS; other commercial banks’ deposits at the CBvS in national and foreign currency; other demand deposits in national and foreign currency; and gold certificates (Table 6).
  - Exclusions: central bank certificates issued to retail investors as part of open market operations to absorb liquidity; balances in deposit auctions; commercial banks’ term deposits at the CBvS.
  - Reserve money amounted to SRD 12,816.6 million as of December 31, 2020.
  - Reserve money in local currency: SRD 7,342.2
  - Reserve money in foreign currency: SRD 5,474.4
- Net foreign assets (NFA) at program exchange rates:
  - Calculated as foreign assets minus foreign liabilities.
  - Foreign assets: claims on nonresidents in foreign currencies, including foreign exchange (foreign currency cash, deposits with foreign correspondents, holdings of foreign securities), monetary gold, IMF reserve position, and SDR holdings.
  - Foreign liabilities: CBvS liabilities vis-à-vis nonresidents in foreign currencies; all outstanding credit from the IMF resulting from purchases under arrangements and SDR allocation; the nominal value of all derivative positions (including swaps, options, forwards, and futures) of the CBvS implying the sale of foreign currency or other reserve assets.
  - NFA amounted to SRD 4,039.5 million as of December 31, 2020.
- Memorandum:
  - Program exchange rate: 14.018

### Detailed CBvS balance-sheet items (31-Dec-20, Table 6, In SRD millions)
- Net foreign assets: 4,039.5
  - Foreign assets: 8,243.5
  - Foreign liabilities: -4,204.0
- Net domestic assets: 8,777.1
  - Net claims on the government: 8,234.0
    - Claims on the government in local currency: 9,833.7
    - Liabilities to the government in local currency: -446.8
    - Claims on the government in foreign currency: 144.1
    - Liabilities to government in foreign currency: -1,297.0
  - Net claims on commercial banks: -2,495.6
    - Claims on commercial banks in local currency: 2.2
    - Liabilities to commercial banks in local currency: -200.0
    - Claims on commercial banks in foreign currency: 187.0
    - Liabilities to commercial banks in foreign currency: -2,484.7
  - Other items net: 3,038.7

### Reporting requirements for NDA/NFA/reserve money and audits
- Data provision to the IMF:
  - Monthly data: provided with a lag of no more than two weeks after the end of the month.
  - At each program test date: quarterly NDA data submitted by the CBvS to the IMF will be reviewed by the CBvS external auditors to ensure conformity with program definition and calculation methods.
  - Reports should be submitted to the CBvS, with a copy to the IMF, no later than 60 days after each test date.

### NDA target adjusters (valuation at program exchange rates)
- NDA targets will be adjusted:
  1. downward (upward) by the full amount of the cumulative surplus (shortfall) in program loan disbursements from IFIs relative to the baseline projections reported in Table 2.
  2. downward (upward) by the full amount of the cumulative surplus (shortfall) in loans from official bilateral and private creditors (including international capital markets) relative to the baseline projections reported in Table 2.
  3. downward (upward) by the full amount of the cumulative surplus (shortfall) in the sum of the government’s total mineral and other revenues received in foreign exchange that are transferred to the CG account at the CBvS, with the exemption of pending transfers of these funds to the foreign bank account of the CBvS, relative to baseline projections reported in Table 4 (see definition in section F). Mineral revenue in FX is defined as the government’s FX tax and non-tax proceeds from state-oil company Staatsolie Suriname and from gold companies. This includes corporate tax, wage tax (including old age fund contributions), dividend tax, indirect taxes, dividends, royalties and others. Royalties from small scale gold mining are also included in mineral revenue. Other FX revenues of the CG are defined as any revenues in foreign exchange other than mineral revenue as defined above.
  4. upward (downward) by the full amount of the cumulative surplus (shortfall) in CG and CBvS’s debt service payments in foreign exchange relative to baseline projections reported in Table 5.
  5. Downward by the full amount of the CBvS’ cumulative purchases of foreign exchange from the market relative to the baseline projections reported in Table 7.

### Direct purchases/sales of FX by CBvS and/or Central Government (continuous ceiling)
- Ceiling: a continuous performance criterion throughout the program period on direct purchases/sales of FX by the CBvS and/or central government from/to SOEs and private sector.
- Excluded purchases/sales by CBvS from/to the FX market:
  - Purchases/sales of FX with banks and cambios undertaken through fixed allotment/variable price auctions.
  - Sales of FX to (former) CBvS employees for children’s overseas study and livelihood purposes, overseas pension transfers, overseas salary transfers and overseas travel expenses up to a maximum amount of USD 100,000 per quarter or an equivalent thereof in another convertible currency.
  - Purchases of EUR banknotes from banks and cambios in exchange for USD banknotes.
  - Sales of FX by mineral companies associated with these companies’ tax or non-tax obligations to the central government.
- Reporting: Data on direct purchases/sales of FX by the CBvS and/or central government from/to SOEs and private sector will be provided by the CBvS to the Fund daily.

### FX debt service payments by the Central Government and CBvS (Baseline Projection, Table 5; cumulative flows from the beginning of the fiscal year, In USD millions)
- Start date: Dec-22; End-date and cumulative values:
  - End-June 2023: 76
  - End-July 2023: 92
  - End-August 2023: 112
  - End-September 2023: 121
  - End-October 2023: 136
  - End-November 2023: 163
  - End-December 2023: 204
  - End-January 2024: 21 (Dec-23 to Jan-24)
  - End-February 2024: 54 (Dec-23 to Feb-24)
  - End-March 2024: 59 (Dec-23 to Mar-24)
  - End-April 2024: 82 (Dec-23 to Apr-24)
  - End-May 2024: 117 (Dec-23 to May-24)
  - End-June 2024: 180 (Dec-23 to Jun-24)
  - End-July 2024: 214 (Dec-23 to Jul-24)
  - End-August 2024: 240 (Dec-23 to Aug-24)
  - End-September 2024: 256 (Dec-23 to Sep-24)
  - End-October 2024: 279 (Dec-23 to Oct-24)
  - End-November 2024: 279 (Dec-23 to Nov-24)
  - End-December 2024: 279 (Dec-23 to Dec-24)

### FX purchases by CBvS (Baseline Projection, Table 7; cumulative flows from the beginning of the fiscal year, In USD millions)
- Listed reporting periods (Start date Dec-22; End-dates shown) — cumulative flow placeholders shown in table for: End-June 2023, End-July 2023, End-August 2023, End-September 2023, End-October 2023, End-November 2023, End-December 2023, End-January 2024, End-February 2024, End-March 2024, End-April 2024, End-May 2024, End-June 2024, End-July 2024, End-August 2024, End-September 2024, End-October 2024, End-November 2024, End-December 2024. (Table shows structure for cumulative FX purchases reported in USD millions.)

### Other continuous performance criteria and prohibitions
- During the Arrangement under the EFF, Suriname will not:
  1. impose or intensify restrictions on the making of payments and transfers for current international transactions;
  2. introduce or modify multiple currency practices;
  3. conclude bilateral payments agreements that are inconsistent with Article VIII; and
  4. impose or intensify import restrictions for balance of payments reasons.

### Indicative targets — Social spending (floor)
- Definition:
  - Social spending of central government includes all spending of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Public Housing on social protection programs.
  - The floor on CG social spending is cumulative from the beginning of the year and is defined as the sum of spending on the following cash transfer programs:
    - General old-age pension.
    - General child benefit.
    - Financial assistance for persons with disabilities.
    - Financial assistance for weak households.
    - Social beneficiary program.
- Reporting: Data provided to the IMF with a lag of no more than six weeks after the end of the quarter.

### Stock of VAT refunds outstanding (ceiling)
- Definition:
  - Assessed as total cumulative VAT refund claims which have not yet been paid or declined by the Tax Authority of Suriname.
  - The stock is cumulative from the beginning of 2023.
  - A claim is assessed as existing once a credit return is filed.
  - Exclusions: interest payable on approved delayed refunds and refunds due to non-VAT registrants.
  - A VAT refund claim is deemed paid if settled against outstanding payable VAT returns or if settled against non-VAT revenue arrears.
- Reporting: Data provided to the IMF with a lag of no more than six weeks after the end of the quarter.

### Non-accumulation of new domestic debt arrears by the Central Government (continuous ceiling)
- Definition:
  - Continuous performance criterion: non-accumulation of domestic debt arrears by the CG on contractual debt obligations owed to resident creditors.
  - Domestic debt arrears for program monitoring: CG obligations owed to commercial banks, Central bank, non-bank financial institutions (pension, insurance, and non-depository banks) and non-financial sector (suppliers and other private sector) which either have not been paid within 30 days after contractual due date or within the contractual grace period, whichever is longer.
  - Exclusions: domestic debt arrears subject to a renegotiation or restructuring plan as of end-2023; domestic debt arrears disputed or under audit as of December 31 2023; arrears owed on supplier credits, VAT refund, and expenditure arrears.
- Calculation and reconciliation:
  - Stock calculated based on schedule of domestic debt service reported by the Ministry of Finance and Planning (MoFP).
  - Data reconciled with relevant creditors and adjustments incorporated as they occur.
- Reporting: Data provided to the IMF on a continuous basis.

### Information and data reporting requirements (selected)
- Daily/Semi-weekly:
  - Official nominal exchange rates.
  - Volumes and nominal exchange rates (inclusive of fees, commission, or other charges) of foreign exchange transactions (purchases and sales) by banks and cambios.
  - Volumes and nominal exchange rates of direct purchases/sales of foreign exchange by the CBvS and/or central government from/to SOEs and private sector.
  - Monitoring Template IMF (no. 25) - Deposits including largest 5 depositors within one week after the reporting period.
  - Monitoring Template IMF (no. 26) – Liquid assets held by banks within one week after the reporting period.
  - Liquidity Coverage SRD template (no. 30) within one week after the reporting period.
  - Net Foreign Currency Position (Net Open Position) template (no. 27) for banks and cambios within one week after the reporting period.
- Weekly/bi-weekly:
  - CBvS liquidity assistance to financial institutions, by institution.
  - Reports on large exposures by bank ≥ 10 percent of Tier 1 Capital (template no. 28) within two weeks after the reporting period.
  - Large deposits ≥ 10 percent of Tier 1 Capital (template no. 29) within two weeks after the reporting period.
  - Liquidity forecast and realization (templates no. 15, 17 and 19) within two weeks after the reporting period.
  - Liquidity stress testing (templates no. 10-13) within two weeks after the reporting period.
  - Lending availability in SRD and USD (templates no. 21 and 22) within two weeks after the reporting period.
  - CBvS purchases and sales of foreign currency (FX cash flow table); FX auction amounts, bids, highest/lowest prices, cut-off and weighted average prices, FX rate before the auction.
  - Information on auction results for open market operations no later than two days after the auctions (instrument type; total OMO auction volume; settlement date; expiration date; number of bids; total amount of bids; number of allocated bids; total amount of allocated bids; minimum bid rate; cut-off interest rate; highest bid rate; weighted average allotted interest rate).
  - Weekly submission of daily transactions and rates for: interest rates on domestic debt securities by maturity; required and excess reserves of the banking sector in local and foreign currency; total liquidity assistance to banks through normal lending operations, standing facilities, and ELA; interest rates on OMOs, standing facilities, and ELA by maturity.
  - Weekly submission of daily mineral tax and non-tax revenue of major commodity companies and small gold miners, by revenue item and type of commodity (separately for large-scale gold companies and small-scale gold miners). Data to be provided within 3 working days of the end of each week.
- Monthly (selected):
  - CG operations (revenues and expenditure) in GFS format within six weeks of the end of the month.
  - CG detailed revenues data from the tax office by revenue category within six weeks of the end of the month.
  - Number of public civil servants and total wage bill by Ministry within six weeks of the end of the month.
  - CG authorized spending data by Ministry within four weeks of the end of the month.
  - CG balance from the financing side by sources and by currency within six weeks of the end of the month.
  - CG domestic and external debt stock, including by creditor, currency, instrument, collateralized by natural resources revenue, and guaranteed — reporting lag not to exceed four weeks after the end of the month.
  - Amortization payments of CG and government guaranteed debt by creditor, instrument, and currency — reporting lag not to exceed four weeks after the end of the month.
  - Interest payments and fees on CG and government guaranteed debt by creditor, instrument, and currency — reporting lag not to exceed four weeks after the end of the month.
  - Stock of CG expenditure arrears (existing arrears and creation of new domestic arrears, including currency) — reporting lag not to exceed four weeks after the end of the month.
  - Stock of CG domestic and external debt arrears, including currency of arrears — reporting lag not to exceed two weeks after the end of the month; breakdown on confirmed arrears and arrears under dispute/being audited.
  - New debt contracts (official or private) entered into by the CG and/or SOEs — reporting lag not to exceed two weeks after the end of the month.
  - Holdings of domestic T-notes and T-bills by investor, maturity, and currency — reporting lag not to exceed four weeks after the end of the month.
  - Balance sheet of the CBvS within two weeks of end of the month.
  - Summary of the monetary survey of the banking system within six weeks after the end of the month.
  - Income statement of the CBvS on a cash and accrual basis within three weeks from the end of the month.
  - Projections of CBvS purchases and sales of foreign currency (FX cash flow table, 12 months ahead).
  - Information on interconnectedness of the financial sector and related party lending (templates no. 6 and 37) within four weeks after the end of the month.
  - The deposit funding structure of the banks (template no.8) within four weeks after the end of the month.
  - Information on measures taken by banks in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (templates no.33-35) within four weeks after the end of the month.
  - Banks’ claims on the government and State-owned Entities with breakdown by type within four weeks after the end of the month.
  - The Monthly Returns as reported to the CBvS, within four weeks of the end of the month.
  - A written update on the progress of the Asset Quality Review (until concluded), including issues encountered and remedial actions taken.
  - Data on foreign reserve assets and foreign reserve liabilities for NIR target purposes (Table 2) evaluated at both official and program exchange rates, within two weeks of the end of the month.
  - Data on NDA, NFA, and reserve money (Table 4) evaluated at both official and program exchange rates, within two weeks of the end of the month.
  - Data on foreign reserve assets split into ring-fenced and non-ring-fenced assets evaluated at official exchange rates, within two weeks of the end of the month.
  - Consumer price index, including CPI sub-components, within four weeks after the end of the month.
  - Cash flow of EBS showing government transfers to cover the gap between the average electricity tariff and EBS recovery cost within eight weeks after the end of the month.
  - Electricity average tariff, total electricity consumption volume, total billing and amount collected (in SRD) by consumption categories and by consumption volume within eight weeks after the end of the month.
  - Electricity costs (production costs: fuel costs, Staatsolie electricity costs, hydropower costs; other operational costs: personnel costs and financing costs; investment costs) within eight weeks after the end of the month.
  - EBS committed and executed payments to Staatsolie for purchases of fuel and electricity within eight weeks after the end of the month.

*Source: Central Bank of Suriname / IMF program documentation excerpt.*

### 47.      Quarterly

### 47.      Quarterly

### Reporting requirements (Quarterly)
- Detailed balance of payments data within 60 days after the end of the quarter.
- Detailed International Investment Position data within two months after the end of the quarter.
- Projections regarding banks’ balance sheets and profit and loss statement (template no. 2 and 3) in accordance with the Enhanced Supervision framework, within four4 weeks after the end of the quarter.
- Liquidity forecast and realization (templates no. 14, 16 and 18) in accordance with the Enhanced Supervision framework, within four weeks after the end of the quarter.
- Progress reports of the banks on inspection items identified by CBvS, within six weeks after the end of the quarter.
- A full set of quarterly Financial Soundness Indicators (FSI) calculated by the CBvS within 60 days after the end of the quarter.
- CG spending on social protection programs, by program, as defined for the indicative target on social spending. The reporting lag should not exceed six weeks after the end of the quarter.

### Reporting requirements (Annual)
- Financial statements of EBS within six months of year end.
- Nominal GDP and real GDP within eight months of year end.
- Labor market statistics (including the unemployment rate and labor participation ratio) within twelve months of the year end.

### Statement by Surinamese authorities — Overall message
- Authorities largely agree with staff's assessment of Suriname's economic performance and outlook under the EFF program.
- Authorities committed to macroeconomic stabilization, debt sustainability, financial stability, and implementing structural reforms.
- All except one end-September quantitative targets and continuous PCs have been met.

### Recent developments and outlook
- Economic recovery gaining momentum: "The economy is growing, inflation is decelerating, and public debt is declining."
- Elections-related risks: "The 2025 general elections present short-term economic challenges, particularly as election-related spending often exerts pressure on the exchange rate."
- Final Investment Decision for offshore oil development: "USD 10.5  billion in planned investments between  2025  and  2028,  including USD  1  billion  in  local content."
- Offshore oil production expected to commence by 2028.
- Inflation progress: "annual inflation dropping to 9.8 percent in January" and "Projections indicate that inflation will reach single-digit  levels throughout the year."

### Sustainable and inclusive development
- Authorities committed to protecting the most vulnerable and enhancing efficiency of cash transfers.
- ILO recommendations to improve efficiency and effectiveness of social policies will be implemented.
- Emergency measures to improve the health system are being implemented.
- Indicative Target on social spending was met continuously in 2024.
- Climate and energy challenges:
  - Decline of hydro-electricity capacity due to drought required shifts towards more expensive thermal sources.
  - EBS proposed rental of emergency power generators to produce 30 Megawatt of electricity for the coming three months; payment costs amount to SRD 200 million per month (still under discussion).
  - Since the second half of March 2025, lake water levels stabilized due to continuous rains, lowering risk of load-shedding, but some villages face flood risks due to rising river levels.
- Green Development Strategy 2025 - 2050 (GDS) to use future oil revenues to catalyze green and inclusive development while preserving nature and biodiversity.

### Fiscal and tax policies
- Measures to correct the significant primary balance shortfall are being implemented.
- After revenue shortfalls and overspending in the last quarter of 2024, MoFP implemented a system that automatically caps expenditures on a monthly basis.
- The 2025 Budget will be more comprehensive and accurate; allocation for electricity payments incorporated so each ministry/state body is responsible for their own electricity bill.
- PFM and SSFS Acts:
  - Parliament approved amended Public Financial Management (PFM) Act and the Savings-and Stabilization Fund Suriname (SSFS) Act; enacted and published in the Legal Gazette at end-December 2024.
  - Primary expenditure and total public debt rule in PFM law to be quantified within the CARTAC-supported Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) and operationalized through implementation decrees.
  - Rules will guide management of mineral revenues through central government budget over periods of five years.
- Tax administration strengthening:
  - Efforts to strengthen tax compliance, administration, and collection; targets for tax and non-tax revenues pursued.
  - Hiring and training of new staff to improve VAT compliance and maintain tax base.
  - Semi-Autonomous Revenue Authority (SARA) law passed; preliminary implementation phase started; financial and technical support from IDB being secured.
- Suppliers’ arrears and expenditure management:
  - Spending ceilings calculated in December 2024 and communicated to all ministries.
  - Monthly monitoring of payments to prevent overspending; optimization of arrears management and reconciliation.
  - Progress toward a Treasury Single Account (TSA) with a pilot for a limited number of ministries.

### Debt management and sustainability
- Public debt declined from above 120% of GDP in recent years to an estimated 83% at the end of 2024.
- Authorities committed to continuing debt negotiations; further fiscal consolidation expected before oil production/export from block 58.
- Debt restructuring progress:
  - First phase restructuring of China Exim and China ICBC loans in November and December last year.
  - Umbrella agreement with the Paris Club for second phase of debt treatment; bilateral negotiations with PC creditors ongoing.
  - Negotiations with China Exim Bank regarding second phase started and expected to be finalized in the coming months.
  - Agreements with remaining commercial creditors scheduled to be signed in the coming months.

### Monetary, financial, and exchange rate policies
- Tight monetary policy and fiscal restraint have curbed inflation by restraining SRD liquidity, supported by Central Bank open market operations.
- Month-on-month inflation has returned to pre-crisis levels.
- Despite increased excess liquidity due to higher government spending, investments in Central Bank instruments grew, allowing the Central Bank to meet the monetary QPCs for December 2024.
- A restrictive stance will be maintained until inflation firmly reaches single digits.
- Central Bank preparing transition to a new monetary policy framework in anticipation of oil-related inflows post-2028:
  - Large capital inflows will complicate monetary targeting; shift toward interest rates as primary operational target anticipated.
  - Focus on developing interbank market, enhancing financial market infrastructure, and modernizing liquidity management.
- Banking system metrics as of December 2024:
  - Capital adequacy ratio of the banking system is 23.4 percent per December 2024.
  - Nonperforming loan ratio is close to the five percent benchmark.
- Central Bank strengthening supervisory and macroprudential frameworks: advancing risk-based supervision, improving stress-testing and macro-prudential framework, reforms in insurance and pension sectors, improving capital markets, electronic payments, credit reporting, and AML/CFT regulations.
- FX policy:
  - Flexible, market-determined exchange rates; currency valuation should reflect economic fundamentals.
  - Launch of electronic FX trading platform now operational (initially limited to interbank transactions) to enhance price discovery, improve liquidity management, and support financial sector stability.

### Governance reforms
- Central Bank clearing audit backlog: IFRS-audited statements for FY 2020, 2021, and 2022 published between November 2023 and March 2025.
- Efforts to enhance IFRS-compliant reporting and accelerate future audits; program monetary data audits revealed no major issues.
- Internal audit capacity being strengthened through co-sourcing.
- IMF recommendations to improve foreign reserves management will be implemented.
- CBvS recapitalization plan executed based on FY 2021 financials, with provision for additional capital injections if future audits reveal greater recapitalization needs.
- Anti-corruption framework strengthened:
  - Provisions for declaration of incomes and assets of politically exposed persons, routine verification, publication, and proportionate sanctions for non-compliance.
  - Framework categorizes politically exposed persons based on nominal value of assets; amended law approved by the Council of Ministers in February 2025.

### Concluding remarks and outlook
- Authorities consider overall program performance satisfactory, having managed a complex crisis and implemented reforms.
- Ambitious reform agenda to continue: energy subsidy reforms, anti-corruption initiatives, financial sector reforms, and Central Bank strengthening.
- Remaining priorities: adoption of legislation to improve revenue collection, support countercyclical fiscal policies, and safeguard intergenerational wealth.
- Debt restructuring conclusion expected to support long-term debt sustainability.
- Final Investment Decision from Total/APA in October 2024 significantly alters medium- and long-term outlook; management frameworks needed to capture, absorb, and redistribute oil wealth fairly.
- Post-May 2025 elections, expectation that new administration will remain committed to macroeconomic stability.
- Any successor program, if requested, should focus on institutional strengthening and measures to increase climate resilience; climate-related infrastructure investments will require substantial access to IFIs’ climate financing in the very near future.

*Source: 1surea2025003-print-pdf - 47. Quarterly*

---


_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/cr/2025/english/1surea2025003-print-pdf.pdf_