Suriname Economy Facts

Economical overview

The main ingredients in Surinam’s economy are gold and oil, with agriculture as a minor part. The bauxite industry that previously dominated closed down in 2015 when the bauxite, which is a raw material for aluminum, basically ended.

The extraction and trade of gold previously took place mainly in the informal, black sector. After changes in the regulations, more and more of the gold trade is now taking place in the open market. In addition, in 2004, for the first time, large-scale gold mining was initiated, in the Rosebel mine eight miles south of Paramaribo.

  • Countryaah.com: Major imports by Suriname, covering a full list of top products imported by the country and trade value for each product category.

Political instability during the 1980s and the second half of the 1990s did great damage to the economy. Assistance to Surinam was periodically withdrawn, government debt grew, growth was weak and inflation galloped. When President Ronald Venetiaan took office again in 2000, he resumed the austerity policy he pursued as early as the early 1990s. The situation then improved significantly: the currency stabilized, inflation fell to single digits and growth accelerated. However, the dependence on aid from the Netherlands in particular remains high. Growth has been relatively good during the 2000s and remained above zero even during the global financial crisis of 2009. However, when the bauxite industry collapsed, it hit hard on the country and the economy shrank for two years, before growth again turned positive in 2017.

The informal sector is large, according to some calculations as large as the formal economy.

In addition to ore mining and the like, the informal economy also includes elements of drug trafficking and other crime. For example, cocaine is smuggled north through Suriname from South America.

  • Abbreviationfinder.org: Check this abbreviation website to find three letter ISO codes for all countries in the world, including SUR which represents the country of Suriname. Check findjobdescriptions to learn more about Suriname.

FACTS – FINANCE

GDP per person

US $ 5,950 (2018)

Total GDP

US $ 3,427 million (2018)

GDP growth

2.0 percent (2018)

Agriculture’s share of GDP

12.6 percent (2017)

Manufacturing industry’s share of GDP

14.6 percent (2017)

The service sector’s share of GDP

48.7 percent (2017)

Inflation

5.5 percent (2019)

Government debt’s share of GDP

72.8 percent (2018)

Currency

Surinamese dollar

Merchandise exports

US $ 2,124 million (2018)

Imports

US $ 1,499 million (2018)

Current account

– US $ 189 million (2018)

Commodity trade’s share of GDP

111 percent (2018)

Main export goods

bauxite, aluminum, rice

Largest trading partner

USA, Netherlands, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago

Suriname Economy Facts

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