At two separate diaspora and business banquet engagement events Saturday and Sunday evenings at different locations held for visiting Suriname’s President Chandrikapersad (Chan) Santokhi, the audience was most impressed with his rattling off numbers about the country’s economy, claiming he has turned it around reminiscent of how Dr Jagan and Bharrat Jagdeo turned around Guyana’s after a long period of poor governance. Saturday night event was held in Hicksville, Long Island organized by Dave (Anand) Boycke Mahabeir, Rajan Ramkaloep, and others under Suriname Diaspora Assn of USA. The other event was held in Little Guyana Sunday evening at Citi Palace on Lefferts and 115th Ave. organized by Anand Jagessar, Herman Singh, Roshan Ahmad, and a few others. Much of his remarks in Queens were a rehash of those on Long Island.
President Santokhi is in New York for the Summit of the Future being held under the auspices of the United Nations. The annual UN General Assembly opened last week but the speeches of the leader of the major countries were slated for Monday, Tuesday and later this week. Prime Minister addressed the august body on Monday before meeting President Santokhi for a brief meeting. Santokhi, and President Ali attended every annual summit since coming into office in 2020; in person session was cancelled in September 2020 but resumed in 2021. At both Santokhi events, the audiences comprised of Surinamese, Guyanese, Trinidadians, and nationals of India. Guyanese, Trinidadians, and Surinamese tend to be supportive of each other’s programs for visiting leaders. The Guyanese were always there for Basdeo Panday and Kamla Persad Bissessar and the Trinidadians were there for the Jagan’s, Jagdeo, Ramotar, and now Irfaan Ali.
Santokhi talked about the important role Guyanese played and still playing in Suriname’s economy and thank them for coming out to the diaspora engagements to support Surinamese in the New York area.
Santokhi is not known for soaring speeches like those of Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Basdeo Panday or Narendra Modi who also addressed the diaspora on Sunday morning where several Guyanese, including this writer, were in attendance. But Santokhi did offer some wise cracks that evoked laughter at his two events. He was warm, friendly, charming and displayed Jagan-like charisma winning over his listeners who interrupted his remarks with loud cheers.
The Suriname President sounded like Jagdeo and Jagan, rattling off numbers about his country’s economic indicators when they all first came to power. He spoke self-assured and with confidence reminiscent of Jagan and Jagdeo who gave numbers at the top of their fingers on various indicators. Both Guyana and Suriname faced similar problems after a period of authoritarian or bad rule. Suriname’s economy was in shambles and went through a tough three years IMF program and has been on the mend. However, Santokhi faces a tough re-election next year, and he appealed for support for investment to grow the economy as well as for assistance in the election campaign.
Speaking without prepared notes at the Long Island event, and with notes in Richmond Hill, Santokhi said his government went through a second review of IMF structural adjustment team and received a positive outlook. The country is under a three years loan program with an extended facility. Santokhi said he is humbled by the challenges that he, his government, and the country faced and has been an honor to take measures to address the challenges.
When Santokhi became President in 2020, the country was bankrupt similar to Guyana in 1992. Some 85% of income was needed to pay interests on the loans very similar to Guyana in 1992 when some 94% revenues were needed just to service the debt. As Jagan and Finance Ministers Asgar Ali and Bharrat Jagdeo did for Guyana, Santokhi and his Finance team has done for Suriname, reducing the debt burden and turned around the economy. As the Paris Club did for Guyana in cancelling some foreign debts, Suriname experienced some debt restructuring (not loan forgiveness like Guyana) by commercial and institutional banks – Paris Club, USA, India offered some concessionary terms and extended the time period to repay the loans. The $4 B debt in 2020 still stands but Santokhi is managing with servicing it.
Suriname followed a similar structural adjustment prescribed by IMF. Jagdeo implemented the adjustment and turned around the economy and Santokhi has met similar successes. He said inflation was 60% in 2020, not different from Guyana’s in 1980s. “Now inflation is 12 and we expect it to be single digit by year end”.
The Suriname dollar (SRD) currency was rapidly losing value when he assumed the Presidency. It is stable now. “My government has stabilized the dollar”. He said: “The Debt to GDP ratio was very high at 150%. The norm is 60%. We brought it down to 85%. Budget deficit was 18% in 2020; the norm is 3%. Our deficit is now 3%. Economic growth was negative in 2020, negative 16% in 2021. After three years, it is now, according to IMF, 3.5%. We had negative international reserves when I became President. Right now, we are bankrupt, no money. From minus reserves, we now have $1.3 B reserves to support imports”.
He continued: “We have stabilized the economy at the macro level. We paid a very high social price as people were not pleased with the tough IMF measures that required a lot of sacrifices. But we got support from various sections of the society. The union leaders, business people, and the population at large were patient with us and I thank them for their indulgence. We did have a major strike in 2023 that led to arson, destruction of property, looting, robbery; calls for the President to go, murder in the interior, among other problem. It was a strong signal to me and the government. Then there was dialogue”.
He said: “We have implemented social program and have a safety net for the poor and pensioners. We reduce taxes. Anyone earning SRD 9,400 (US$320) monthly are not paying taxes and that is over fifty percent of state employees. The government is paying electricity and water bills to protect the people. We have increased salary by 20%.”
He told the gathering: “We have also increased pension and allowances for children and to the vulnerable. Overall, we have increased purchase power of the working class. We create stability, strong foundation that is not making me popular. I am not a President to make me popular. I am not there for me. I am there to save the country and to make lives better for this and next generation. We need a comprehensive program to eradicate poverty and to do so in a sustainable manner. We are rebuilding Suriname. We have to continue this process. In the coming days there will be announcements from TOTAT, the French oil giant. The future oil income of Suriname will be high with its 750 M barrels of oil in reserve in one block. Suriname stands to reap US$ 25 billion from it.” Oil is expected in 2028 at 200,000 barrels a day.
The President told his Surinamese brethren in America and others supportive of government to “follow your dream and look towards the next generation”. He noted, “Our ancestors left India a long time ago and look at the progress we have made in the Caribbean, Holland, America, and elsewhere, and they did so by keeping their values, faith, and dharma, and we should do same”.
He noted that whenever a plane lands in Suriname, the people on board clapped. “They are happy to be home. Suriname is always home to the diaspora. You don’t have to return and live in Suriname although we love to have you resettled. You can live in the diaspora and continue to deliver your contributions to the homeland and promote your country from abroad”.
He said the life of a politician is to support the people who support you and don’t be distracted by negativities. “You do your job in spite of negativity. I maintain a positive frame of mind. I pay attention to what people say and do my best for everyone, those who support you and those don’t. I listened to people but don’t let negative control my drive to develop the country”.
President Santokhi acknowledged the contributions of people from the diaspora who helped Suriname. He mentioned a few names. He appointed community advocate and promoter of Suriname’s interests in America, Anand Jagessar as Honorary Consular General of Suriname whose job is to bring investment to the former homeland.
Santokhi appealed to the gathering to come and invest in Suriname. “I guarantee your investments. There will be no breach of contract under a government led by me. You will be allowed to repatriate your profit.”
He said government has created a support force for connectivity. “You in the diaspora have a voice! You can convince Surinamese at home to vote and you can invest in your country of birth”!
On investments, he said that in oil and gas, “we are putting in place local content that will train locals and provide mechanism so they can compete, or make them competitive. They have to have a partnership with locals. The locals must benefit from the local content policy”. He also said government is improving on ‘the ease’ of doing business to make it better to do business in or with Suriname.
The President also talked by the Suriname-Guyana bridge and farming. He said government is encouraging modern method of farming like hydroponics. He pointed the problem Suriname faces in agriculture with labor shortage.
He noted that investors had a small percentage of the huge amount of gas that was discovered in 2017. “And that is for only one block. Image the wealth to come from 50 blocks Suriname and Guyana will be huge oil and gas producing countries”.
He also talked about the need for good leadership to manage the oil money that will come in 2027-28 and thereafter. President Santokhi said that the coming election “is about which party will deliver the best future of Suriname. We will continue going forward with sustainability. Or we can return to the instability of the past. We will continue with reform or make a choice to go backwards. Our government guarantees stability and growth. The records are there. Follow the track record of other political parties, and you will see how good government has been versus bad government of the past. I guarantee you good leadership, sustainable and comprehensive policy on oil and gas, a sovereign wealth fund to transform the economy. Give us your support. Give me the opportunity to finish the job”.
His remarks were well accepted by a packed house at the City Palace catering hall. They expressed words of praise for being able to turn around the economy similar to Jagdeo and Jagan in Guyana.
There were interludes of live musical entertainment at both locations at the beginning, in between, and at end.
The President went around chatting with the gathering at their dinner table at both events and posing for pix. He was sought after for pix.
