US$100 million loan to improve the effectiveness of financial institutions and markets and provide greater access to credit and financial services to firms and individuals

Suriname is improving its financial sector by strengthening the effectiveness of financial institutions and markets efficiency, with a US$50 million loan approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and US$50 million from the China Co-financing Fund for LAC (CHC).

This is the second in a series of three programmatic policy-based loans supporting the Government reform agenda for the financial sector. The first was approved on December 2011.

The program aims to facilitate better access to credit and financial services to the public and private firms and mitigate vulnerability to macroeconomic and microeconomic shocks by strengthening the capabilities of Suriname’s Central Bank to supervise financial institutions and enforce regulations meeting international standards.

The ongoing program of policy measures continues strengthening Suriname’s macroeconomic policy, legal and regulatory frameworks, supervision of the financial sector and public bank reforms, promotion of the inter-bank and securities market development. This program is also addressing the need for complementary institutions to enhance Suriname’s enabling environment for greater access to finance.

The Central Bank’s management is benefitting in terms of its human resources and institutional capacities, such as greater efficiency and transparency of business procedures and systems, including payments systems , data management and information dissemination.

The IDB financing consists of US$50 million from the ordinary capital, with a 20-year term, a grace period of 5.5 years and an interest rate based on LIBOR, and US$50 million from the China Co-financing Fund for LAC (CHC). The executing agency is the Central Bank of Suriname.