OFID and Finance Ministry sign loan agreement

The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the Ministry of Finance recently inked a $ 32 million loan agreement. $6 million will be used to finance the upgrading of the surgery room and other facilities at the nation’s biggest hospital, the Academic Hospital Paramaribo (AZP), while the remaining money will be used for the Expansion of Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Systems Project at the Energy Company Suriname. The concessional loan that will run for the next 25 to 30 years will have a grace period of 4 years at an interest rate of 2.5 percent. “So I think that we will have a stateoftheart surgery room and a strong Intensive Care Unit with all the necessary equipment within the next couple of months. We are talking about a completely improved Academic Hospital,” said Finance Minister Gillmore Hoefdraad. A delegation from the OFID on Wednesday visited the AZP to attend the reopening of the renovated wing of the hospital. “You are very active,” Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, DirectorGeneral and Chief Executive Officer of OFID, told Minister Hoefdraad. The OFID DG pointed out that he was impressed by Suriname’s projects that were handed in for financing. “I look forward to future collaboration with your country and government. Everybody knows that the road to development is not short. We will work together with Suriname with the aim of implementing the best projects.” The OFID has already helped with the financing of other big projects in Suriname such as the MeerzorgAlbina Corridor Rehabilitation Program (MACRP).