Suriname Reaches Debt Restructuring Agreement with China

The Suriname government has announced that it has signed a debt rescheduling agreement with China, with the first repayments to creditors anticipated to begin in 2024. This deal was disclosed by Suriname’s Finance and Planning Minister, Stanley Raghoebarsing, during a statement to the National Assembly. The restructuring aims to manage Suriname’s debt to China more effectively and may provide some relief for the country’s financial challenges.

The signing comes after four years of preparation.

Suriname owes Chinese state-owned Exim Bank an estimated US$476 million, of which US$140 million is in arrears, according to debt management office data from mid-2024.

Payments to Exim will be rescheduled in two phases, while Suriname’s debt to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will be repaid in one tranche.

As of end-June, Suriname owed $68 million to ICBC.

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Raghoebarsing told legislators that the rescheduling would not have been possible if President Chandrikapersad Chan Santokhi had not been to China earlier this year.

During the visit, Presidents Xi Jinping and Santokhi signed the minutes on the national debt, but the settlement had not yet taken place.

The authorities said that at a technical and political level, the reorganization had already been completed, but the formal settlement took a long time.