Imports - partners:
US 29.3%, Netherlands 17.5%, Trinidad and Tobago 12.7%, China 6.5%,
Japan 5.2% (2005)
Debt - external:
$504.3 million (2005 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$46 million Netherlands provided $37 million for project and
program assistance, European Development Fund $4 million, Belgium $2
million (2003)
Currency (code):
Surinam dollar (SRD)
Currency code:
SRG
Exchange rates:
Surinamese dollars per US dollar - 2.7317 (2005), Surinamese
guilders per US dollar - 2.7336 (2004), 2.6013 (2003), 2.3468
(2002), 2.1785 (2001)
note: during 1998, the exchange rate splintered into four distinct
rates; in January 1999 the government floated the guilder, but
subsequently fixed it when the black-market rate plunged; in January
2004, the government introduced the Surinamese dollar as replacement
for the guilder, tied to a US dollar-dominated currency basket
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Communications Suriname
Telephones - main lines in use:
81,100 (2004)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
232,800 (2005)