Economy - overview:
The economy is dominated by the alumina industry, which accounts for more than 15% of GDP and 70% of export earnings. Suriname's economic prospects for the medium term will depend on continued commitment to responsible monetary and fiscal policies and to the introduction of structural reforms to liberalize markets and promote competition. The government of Ronald VENETIAAN has begun an austerity program, raised taxes, and attempted to control spending. While - in 2002 - President VENETIAAN agreed to a large pay raise for civil servants, threatening his earlier gains in stabilizing the economy, he has not repeated this promise in the run-up to the May 2005 elections. The Dutch Government has agreed to restart the aid flow, which will allow Suriname to access international development financing, but plans to phase out funds over the next five years. The short-term economic outlook depends on the government's ability to control inflation and on the development of projects in the bauxite and gold mining sectors. Prospects for local onshore oil production are good, as a drilling program is underway. Offshore oil drilling was given a boost in 2004 when the State Oil Company (Staatsolie) signed exploration agreements with Repsol and Mearsk.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $1.885 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
4.2% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $4,300 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 13%
industry: 22%
services: 65% (2001 est.)
Labor force:
104,000 (2003)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Unemployment rate:
17% (2000)
Population below poverty line:
70% (2002 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
23% (2003 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $400 million
expenditures: $440 million, including capital expenditures of $34 million (2003)
Agriculture - products:
paddy rice, bananas, palm kernels, coconuts, plantains, peanuts; beef, chickens; forest products; shrimp
Industries:
bauxite and gold mining, alumina production, oil, lumbering, food processing, fishing
Industrial production growth rate:
6.5% (1994 est.)
Electricity - production:
1.984 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - consumption:
1.845 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2002)
Oil - production:
12,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - consumption:
14,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - exports:
1,370 bbl/day (2003)
Oil - imports:
1,644 bbl/day (2003)
Oil - proved reserves:
99 million bbl (2004)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
0 cu m (2004)
Exports:
$495 million f.o.b. (2002)
Exports - commodities:
alumina, crude oil, lumber, shrimp and fish, rice, bananas
Exports - partners:
Norway 31.1%, US 16%, Canada 13.2%, Belgium 10.8%, France 8.8%, Iceland 4.6% (2004)
Imports:
$604 million f.o.b. (2002)
Imports - commodities:
capital equipment, petroleum, foodstuffs, cotton, consumer goods
Imports - partners:
US 28.2%, Netherlands 21.1%, Trinidad and Tobago 11.4%, Japan 7.2%, China 4.3% (2004)
Debt - external:
$321 million (2002 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
Netherlands provided $37 million for project and program assistance, European Development Fund $4 million, Belgium $2 million (1998)
Currency (code):
Surinam dollar (SRD)
Exchange rates:
Surinamese dollars per US dollar - 2.7336 (2004), Surinamese guilders per US dollar - 2.6013 (2003), 2.3468 (2002), 2.1785 (2001), 1.3225 (2000)
note: during 1998, the exchange rate splintered into four distinct rates; in January 1999 the government floated the guilder, but subsequently fixed it when the black-market rate plunged; in January 2004, the government introduced the Surinamese dollar as replacement for the guilder, tied to a US dollar-dominated currency basket
Fiscal year:
calendar year
