Santokhi installs two presidential committees

President Chandrikapersad Santokhi recently installed two presidential committees. One is the committee on the Control of Foreign Currency Traffic and the Transaction Offices which has been installed for three months while the other one is the committee on Land Conversion and the Revision of Land Policy which has been installed for six months. The committee on the Control of Foreign Currency Traffic and the Transaction Offices will evaluate the Foreign Currency Act that was passed on March 23, 2020. President Santokhi deems this law a controversial law because it was imposed on the nation. The current administration which was part of the opposition at that time protested against the manner in which the bill and its contents were passed. “We are currently form the new government. It is our task to review this law. There will be good things in the law and there will be good things that can be added. There will also be things that could be devastating and which we must amend,” said the head of state. “Several members of parliament and the business community protested against the law that was passed in parliament. Lawsuits were filed and there were two verdicts. The law was then suspended. The president deemed it unacceptable that exporters would have to return 60% of their foreign currency income to Suriname before handing it over to the state at an exchange rate of about SRD 7.5 which was far below the real exchange rate at that time. The exporters would then have to go looking for foreign currency at a much higher exchange rate. “Some people want the law to be abolished while others say that there are good things in the law which can be used as an instrument for controlling the foreign currency market.” The committee on Land Conversion and the Revision of Land Policy which will be composed of several state representatives, notaries, appraisers and jurists will formulate bills aimed at regulating the land policy.