Santokhi Impresses Surinamese & Guyanese Audience with hard facts that Guyana once had to face

Sep 24, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor,

At two separate diaspora and business 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 reminiscent of how Jagan and Jagdeo turned around Guyana’s. Saturday night event was held in Hicksville, Long Island and the other was held in Little Guyana Sunday evening.

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.  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 support Surnamese in the New York diaspora.

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 charming and displayed Jagan-like charisma winning over his listeners who interrupted his remarks with loud cheers.

He sounded like Jagdeo and Jagan, rattling off numbers about his country’s economy 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 rule. Suriname’s economy was in shambles and went through a tough program three years and has been on the mend. However, Santokhi faces a tough re-election next year and appealed for support for investment as well as for assistance in the 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.

When Santokhi became President in 2020, the country was bankrupt similar to Guyana. Some 85% of income were 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 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 cancellations by commercial and institutional banks. The $4 B debt in 2020 has been reduced to a quarter now.

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”.

He added: “Our Suriname dollar currency is stable; my government has stabilised it. Debt to GDP ratio is 150%. The norm is 60%. Now it is 85%. Budget deficit was 18% in 2020; the norm is 3%. Our deficit is now 3%. Economic growth was 16% in 2021. After three years, it is now, according to IMF, 3.5%. We had negative international reserve when I became President. Right now, we are bankrupt, no money.  From minus reserve, 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 and it 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 to protect poor people. We have increased salary by 20%.”

Santokhi said: “We are not allowed to borrow much. We are working and cooperating with the international community. Our government is one for next generation.” 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. You pay attention to what people say and do your best for everyone, those who support you and those don’t”.

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. The President went around chatting with the gathering at their desk and posing for pix. He was sought after for pix.

Yours Truly,

Vishnu Bisram

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• Guyana, Jagdeo, locations, United Nations, Vishnu Bisram

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