LatinNews Daily - 21 March 2024

*The International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board has completed the fifth review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement for Suriname, allowing for an immediate purchase equivalent to US$62m, of which about US$25m would be for budget support. Suriname’s EFF arrangement was approved by the IMF’s executive board on 22 December 2021. According to the IMF, since then “Suriname has been steadily implementing an ambitious economic reform agenda aimed at restoring fiscal and debt sustainability through fiscal consolidation and debt restructuring, protecting the vulnerable by expanding social programmes, upgrading the monetary and exchange rate policy framework, addressing the financial sector’s vulnerabilities, and advancing the anti-corruption and governance agenda.” It notes that the authorities’ near-term priority is to “maintain fiscal discipline, while ensuring that the poor and vulnerable are protected, and persevere with the structural reforms to strengthen institutions and improve governance”.