“Things aren’t going as expected”

Suriname will no longer get any money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the time being. Several months ago the IMF agreed to lend Suriname $478 million but Suriname has only received $ 81 million so far. Reports indicate that Suriname has not stuck to the proposals and programs which it had presented to the IMF as part of its Stabilization and Recovery Plan 2016-2018. This is why further payments from the IMF have been frozen. Until further notice. “All the documentation of the plan is online. When one looks at the scheme, one can see that things aren’t going as expected. When the authorities take firm actions that are consistent with the objectives in their program, we will evaluate things from that point on,” said Daniel Leigh, head of the IMF mission that has held the regular Article IV consultation rounds with the Surinamese authorities for the past two weeks. “We seized the opportunity to take a step back and to review the long term aspects and not to get into the details of the plan,” said Leigh. He could not indicate when the second portion of the money as part of the stand-by agreement will be transferred. He explained that this depends on the government. “As soon as the government sticks to the terms of its own home grown program, the IMF will be willing again to discuss making the funds available. They must achieve their objectives. When they have made more progress, we can evaluate things together.”