Suriname

First explored by the Spaniards in the 16th century and then settled by the English in the mid-17th century, Suriname became a Dutch colony in 1667. With the abolition of slavery in 1863, workers were brought in from India and Java. Independence from the Netherlands was granted in 1975. Five years later the civilian government was replaced by a military regime that soon declared a socialist republic. It continued to exert control through a succession of nominally civilian administrations until 1987, when international pressure finally forced a democratic election. In 1990, the military overthrew the civilian leadership, but a democratically elected government - a four-party New Front coalition - returned to power in 1991 and has ruled since; the coalition expanded to eight parties in 2005.

Economical characteristics

• Currency: Surinamese dollar (ISO code: SRD)
• Central bank discount rate:
• Commercial banks lending rate: 12.23% (31 December 2008)
• Stock of money (M1): $484.7 million (31 December 2008)
• Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $1.018 billion (31 December 2008)

Statistics

Statistic / Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)	885	892	763	1 078	1 271	1 493	1 778	2 130	2 424	3 033
Govt. debt (% of GDP)
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)
Debt to revenue (years)

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

External links

• Suriname on Wikipedia
• Central bank of Suriname
• BBC country profile