Private individuals have $1.4 billion at local banks

Private individuals most certainly have $1.4 billion at local banks and Surinamese citizens have an estimated $3 billion at banks located in foreign countries. All of this foreign currency is in private bank accounts while the nation is experiencing a shortage of foreign currency. The bank accounts are not inactive because transactions are constantly taking place. This is making a huge contribution to the dollarization of the Surinamese economy. Taking a portion of all this money and changing it into Surinamese dollars would end the financial woes of the nation but due to the lack of confidence, the account holders do not feel ‘compelled’ to do so. Fifty percent of the Surinamese economy has reportedly been dollarized and that makes it difficult for the Surinamese dollar to do well. The Surinamese dollar has to compete with the U.S. dollar and the Euro in its own country. There is also an area of tension between the U.S. dollar and the Euro. Financial Consultant/ Legislative Jurist Anne Harmsma concluded that people are still confident that the government will not go near their foreign currency that has been entrusted to Surinamese banks. But it is the government’s task to restore confidence in the Surinamese dollar. “I think that the people who always put money in their savings account who manage to successfully purchase money at the foreign currency market. This group of people also form the pillar of the Surinamese economy because of the dollarization. “If you were to ‘touch’ that, it would be a disaster for the nation. Suriname is up-and-running mainly because of the foreign currency that is in the bank accounts of private individuals and companies. There we already see the dollarization of the economy,” said the consultant who was a guest speaker at a seminar of the Central Bank of Suriname (CBvS).